The Weasel and His Cat
by Miss Nanami-chan
Summary: "Tomomi-san?" he inquired. She merely hummed sleepily in reply, stretching her body across the stone as she basked the sun's rays. "Why do people kill each other?" At that, an eye cracked open to stare evenly at the boy. Her response was always the same: "Because humans are idiots." An unorthodox SI-OC.
1. 一 (One)

**Naruto Fan Fiction!**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"No means _no,_ you little weasel!"

"Please, Tomomi-san. It will only take a moment."

"I will _not_ allow you to degrade me like... like _some animal_! And don't call me that! That is not my name and I am _not your friend_!"

"It's for my Otouto, please, do it for him? And you won't tell me your name. What else am I to call you?"

" _Especially_ not for _him_! The little devil-child has been a menace on my life since he could grasp with those meaty little sausages you call fingers! And I can think of a few _choice_ names to call you by!"

His dark orbs narrowed slightly in annoyance at the way she described his beloved little brother. She was well aware that the subject of his brother was always a sensitive topic, always something to be tread carefully upon. Which is exactly why she never failed to press his buttons in retribution for intruding on her peace and tranquility.

She raised her head haughtily and looked down on the boy from her perch of weathered stone, "The answer is no, little weasel. Now _leave_. I will not entertain your childish games."

His small lips pursed in thought. She could practically see the wheels in his little head spin with ideas on how to get her cooperation. Which, no. That was not going to happen. Not today. Not ever.

After a moment the boy exhaled long enough it could almost be considered a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Tomomi-san... but the rules are quite clear." he murmured lowly, a calculating glint in his eyes.

Her lime-green eyes narrowed dangerously at the young boy of ten.

"Do anything and I will make my displeasure _known_..." she threatened darkly.

He leapt towards her.

* * *

 **"The Weasel and His Cat"**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey all! This little thing is just a short story that been bouncing around in my head for a couple months now and I just finally decided to post it. The whole story is just little snippets like this one, if you liked it I hope you stick around to learn a bit more about Tomomi and her Uchiha!**

 **Love you, 'till next time!**

 _-Nanami_


	2. 二 (Two)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

He was not older than four years of age the first time he wandered into her domain. She had been enjoying _years_ of peaceful solitude before _he_ had blundered his way upon her. Uchiha Itachi. Slayer of the Uchiha Clan. S-Class rouge Shinobi. Hailed prodigal genius. Martyr.

One of the most dangerous men to have ever walked the earth, had _fallen into a hole_.

She had been very unimpressed.

When he found he could not liberate himself from his current predicament, he had tried calling out for help. He had gone on for well over an hour before he quieted.

…then the tears came.

He did not wail, for which she was grateful, but the consistent sniveling and soft whimpers ringing through the forest had thoroughly disrupted the peaceful quiet she had been previously enjoying. She had decided that if her tranquility were to return, then she would have to rid herself of the small Uchiha spawn.

 _Oh_. How naïve she was.

She had found him curled into a ball in the ruins of an old, abandoned stone building. His face buried in his knees. The boy had looked pitiful, she thought. He had looked up when he sensed her approach. The young killer's nose was red and runny, his eyes puffy and shiny from his most recent tears as he looked towards the shadows where she prowled.

"H-Hello?" He uttered with a quiet voice.

"Why do you remain here, child? Begone, back to your village." She ordered.

He lifted a small arm and wiped the mucus from his face. She scrunched up her nose in distaste. He was not one for first impressions, was he? "I would but I have hurt my ankle and I don't know the way out of here, Yōkai-san."

She snorted ungracefully.

He thought she was a ghost? In sense she supposed he was right. She certainly did not belong to this world.

She stepped forward from the shadows and gifted the boy with a cool stare as she evaluated him. His dark hair that didn't even reach the nape of his neck, his soft white skin that has yet to have scar or callous to them, his large black eyes that held an unnatural _knowing_ to them. He was innocent child still. Eyes bright and full of wonder. Uncorrupted by this world and all it's trappings.

 _Yet_ , she reminded herself.

She knew it was only a matter of time before the child sitting before her was turned into a child soldier. The same way she knew he would be no ordinary child soldier either, Uchiha Itachi was, and forever will be, one of the finest and most efficient killing machines ever to emerge from the barbaric Shinobi system of this world.

He had blinked those large eyes at her before he stated the most obvious thing he could.

"You're a cat."

"And _you_ are a noisy child." She informed him without any semblance of courtesy.

"You can talk." He said, as if that was the strangest thing in this insane world. She has yet to be impressed with Uchiha Itachi.

"As can you. Congratulations." She drawled, sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

His small, dark brows furrowed together as he scrutinized her form. "But you're a _cat_. How can you speak the same language as I do?"

Her ear twitched in annoyance. She did not like to be consistently reminded of the fact that her body is not the same as it once was. She turned away from the boy and began to tread towards the exit. The sooner that he was gone, the sooner she could nap again. When she did not hear him behind her, lime-green eyes turned to stare at the boy. "Do you intend to waste away there, child? There is a stick beside you. Use it and follow."

Onyx eyes slid to the side and spotted a fallen branch that was easily larger than he was and could support his weight. The young boy got onto his hands and knees and crawled over to the branch and began the careful operation of standing without adding any additional pressure to his wounded ankle. When he looked back up, the strange talking cat was waiting on him. Itachi wasted no time in making his way to her side, being mindful of his injury.

He wondered if she was a wild cat or if she belonged to someone. Her black coat was very sleek and looked clean. Itachi had briefly wondered while he was crying if he had made a mistake in choosing to explore the abandoned Senju buildings outside the Village walls without telling anyone, but it's clear that his ancestors were watching over him today. He made a mental note to be _very_ generous the next time he leaves offerings at the family shrine. Perhaps his ancestors would like mochi or some of Uncle Teyaki's Senbei? He very much liked them.

She began leading him down the dim tunnel draped with moss and items from a time long forgotten. As he trailed after her, he thought to fill the silence that hung between them. He had so many questions after all. "Are you a summons? Is that how you can speak the same language?"

"I am bound to no soul other than my own. And do not assume that because I look like a cat, that I will stand being treated as such. I am not some _thing_ to be studied."

"I apologize if I made you feel that way, Neko-san. I am just curious. Did Nekobaa teach you to speak?" He had asked with wide, shiny eyes.

"The old Hag has never given me anything, not that I would ever accept anything from the _witch_." She sniffed with distain. The world would be a better place if that witch dropped into a dark hole of her own with no means of escape.

"Then how did you learn to speak? You aren't a summons and if Nekobaa didn't teach you, then who did? Are there more animals that can speak? What kinds? Are-"

"Cease your endless chattering you little weasel!" She hissed, ear twitching in irritation.

He quickly pressed his lips into a firm line and didn't utter another sound. After a full minute of staring the child down, she nodded in satisfaction. She could tolerate his presence longer if he did not speak. They came to the exit and she turned her head towards him, lime-green eyes drilling into him with a serious stare.

"You are free. Now leave and do not return or should you find yourself in another hole, you will _stay there_." She warned before turning away.

Itachi hesitated before speaking once more. "Excuse me but... what is your name? So that I can thank you properly for your assistance."

"None of _your_ business, little weasel." She stated, not turning around.

The boy frowned thoughtfully as he watched her retreating form.

He had not told her his name.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Tah-daaa! Hope you liked it! I've actually have a lot of this already written down, it just needs some editing and to fill in a few blank spots.**

 _-Nanami_


	3. 三 (Three)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

He had shown up. _Again_.

This time he brought pillows and blankets with him. She had been mildly surprised an thoroughly annoyed to find that he had fashioned a crude bed at the base of a large, ruined stone column. Itachi was standing before her now, hands behind his back, fingers twiddling in a fit of nervousness.

"...I thought that maybe you'd like something softer to lie on. The ground can't be terribly comfortable." He mumbled shyly, his true age showing through the many hours of social etiquette he had attended. Truly, Ao-sensei would severely admonish him if he'd caught Itachi displaying such a nervous habit in front of someone. Even if it was a cat.

Her lime-green eyes slowly moved to rest upon the crude bed before lazily raising to the small form of Itachi. She could see how nervous the young boy was and found faint amusement in watching him squirm, despite herself. Her next words were chosen with the upmost care.

"I prefer the stone and moss to the stench of the Village." She sneered before turning over, facing her back to him. "Now, _leave_. Before I make my displeasure known, little weasel."

The young boy felt his shoulders sag had hoped the peace offering might ease whatever slight he must have dealt her. Why else would she be so dismissive of him unless he had done something to wrong her? Itachi didn't know what exactly he did, but he became determined to reconcile it!

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: _Wow_. This got a lot more attention than I had been expecting! I'm glad you guys are liking this!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	4. 四 (Four)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

She was at her wits end, truly, she was.

The Uchiha spawn had not only _continued_ to intrude upon her domain, but he also insisted on bringing useless trinkets along with him. Small, pointless things that would not be missed, she was sure. And each time he would appear, which was every other day now, she would inform him _exactly_ how much his presence was appreciated and what she thought of the particular item he'd brought along on that occasion.

He was undeterred as of yet, much to her chagrin.

This pattern persisted after a number of days and it got to the point that instead of wasting her breath she would just meet his large and curious gaze with a long suffering one of her own. The Feline found herself wondering on more than one occasion what kind of parent would allow their toddler to wander the wilderness unsupervised? Child prodigy or not?

One day after receiving a particularly horrid trinket with that accursed Uchiwa fan branded on it, (It was some sort of dish, she thinks) her curiosity had won out against all of her good sense and she was foolish enough to ask the boy why he continued to deliver these pointless gifts. He had looked up from where he was sitting and reading a tome that was surely as heavy as he was and blinked those large, perceptive eyes at her and answered in a very childlike way.

"I like hearing your opinion. You always say the most interesting things."

"What." she demanded, she had not been sure what she had been expecting him to say but it had certainly not been that. She was being purposely acidic in her commentary whenever he brought her things, after all. Her tone biting and condescending. Did he _like_ his consideration being spit on?

He helpfully elaborated, "You think differently from other people, even the other cats at Sora-ku. If anyone else were to a receive such a poorly crafted plate from me, they would just praise my thoughtfulness and smile. You tell me your honest thoughts."

Then he gave a small, bashful smile to the Feline.

She had been stunned. He _knew_ those things were horrid? And yet he gave them to her anyway? All to hear her opinion? _Fine_ , she thought with determination, if that was the case then she would not say another word to the little weasel. Then he would leave and she could return to napping in blissful solitude.

Unbeknownst to the Feline, all was going exactly to the young Uchiha's grand masterplan.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: I fell really compelled to tell you guys that this isn't a happy story. It might just be the saddest stuff I've written yet. Sure, it's got some humor, but comedy and tragedy are always hand-in-hand. We're only at the beginning but it's only going to get worse! I feel _really_ bad about this. I just wanted to warn you guys.**

 **I still lo** **ve you! Even if this'll hurt...**

 _-Nanami_


	5. 五 (Five)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

He had discovered her weakness.

At first, she had pretended that it did not effect her but Itachi had seen how her body had reacted unconsciously to it's presence, how her nose had twitched and her tail had began swinging lazily from where she was lying on her upraised perch. He had known then.

She had a weakness for his Okaa-san's _Tuna rolls_.

He had not let her know that he had discovered this however, no. This had to be tested first. So one day after unsuccessfully engaging the strange, talking cat in a conversation, Itachi had pretended to have lost track of the time and made the hasty excuse that he was going to be late for throwing practice with his Father, and in a fit of absentmindedness, forgot to even touch his meticulously crafted bento as he rushed out of her sight.

When he came back to the forest the next day, his bento had been thoroughly cleaned of all traces of food.

He was pleased with this new development. Only sparing the Feline an idle musing of not remembering having eaten his lunch before dismissing the matter, he did not want her to know that he knew after all. He would lose his advantage. It had been an unexpected bonus that the cat whose name he has yet to learn seemed to be in a indulgent mood as she didn't even glare at him with her slit eyes when he arrived!

He began coming by at lunchtime every other day after that, bento in hand. The boy would have already eaten by the time he arrived to meet her flat lime-green gaze.

In other news, Uchiha Mikoto, Matron of the Uchiha Clan had never been so pleased to know how much Itachi loved her tuna rolls if he was asking for them every day.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Another short drabble I spewed out real quick this morning. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	6. 六 (Six)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"... _what_ did you call me?" The Feline demanded darkly.

Her self-appointed vigil of silence had lasted an entire two weeks. Then Itachi had made a decision. She had reacted exactly as he had anticipated her to. That is to say, not very well.

"Tomomi-san." The boy of five had said. Repeated actually. She had heard him right the first time, he was sure of that.

The Feline's head raised from where it had been previously resting on her paws and green eyes glared fiercely at the boy. "Do _not_ call me that, _boy_. I have no need for you or your silly ' _friendship_ '!" she sneered harshly, hairs on her back standing on end.

Itachi, however, didn't even blink at her words.

"But you won't tell me your name. I've asked many times and you are very against being referred to as Neko-san or Yōkai-san." he replied calmly.

"That is because I do not like _you_ OR your continued aggravating presence! You and I are _not friends_ , so I will _not_ give you my name." she hissed before turning her back to him and moving further into the ruins buildings, regretting ever interacting with the persistent child in the first place. She was thoroughly convinced she should have just left him sniveling where he'd been and resumed napping!

Itachi watched her go in bemusement. He had honestly thought that the name ' _Beautiful Friend_ ' had fit her quite well. Still, the boy considered this to be a success all-in-all. After all, 'Tomomi' had begun speaking to him again after that day. Whether the things she had to say to him were very nice, well...

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Double posting because it's been a couple days! Yay~**

 **I love 'ya!**

 _-Nanami_


	7. 七 (Seven)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"Tomomi-san, what is the meaning of life and death?"

Lime-green eyes stared dully into onyx ones.

"You are five years-old." She said flatly. "Go and play with a ball. Do not come to me contemplating the philosophy of your short existence."

Itachi frowned. _Thoughtfully_ of course, because he couldn't do it any other way, she thought. He looked up at her with those large, bright eyes once more. "Why shouldn't I?"

The Feline sighed heavily and wondered just what it would take to get the boy to _finally_ leave? She was already bemoaning the hours of precious lost sleep the child has cost her. This was not the first time in recent days that he has come to ask her obscene questions that no toddler should be pondering. She knew that many adults were too concerned with themselves to dare ask such unfathomable queries. She does wonder what on earth made him think that _she_ had all the answers, she knew she didn't.

She rested her head on her paws and continued to stare at the Uchiha boy evenly. "You're asking the wrong questions, little weasel."

His small, round face scrunched up questioningly as he tilted his head. "I... am?"

She rolled onto her side to feel the warmth of the sun on her belly, coincidentally breaking eye-contact with the child sitting obediently in front of her. "Do not bother your soft head with wonderings that the already dead spend their time on. You are young and alive. Pay more attention to the things that are going on around you _before_ they are out of your reach."

She did not care for the boy-turned-mass murderer, she did not care for his tragic tale. Whether the boy took her advice and spent a few moments more time with the still-living people around him didn't matter.

It didn't matter because she _would not_ care.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: A little more on Tomomi and Itachi's relationship! Yay! Hope you guys liked it!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	8. 八 (Eight)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

He brought along _another_ one with him today.

Her claws itched to find purchase in something soft and a _nnoying_ as they approached, ear flicking unconsciously in irritation. They continued to walk towards where she lie and the Feline reminded herself for another time that day that mauling small children was _not acceptable_... no matter how annoyingly persistent they were.

Yet she would be lying if she said that it was not a tempting prospect. Her narrowed eyes surveyed the new intruder. The other boy was slightly older than the little weasel with curly dark locks lying unkempt atop a young head, dark eyes along with soft bordering on feminine features. Quite obviously another Uchiha spawn, she thought with distaste. Needless to say, she was displeased with this new development.

"Hello again, Tomomi-san." Itachi greeted politely, coming to stand at the base of the large, old tree. The Feline stared at him coolly from her perch atop a high branch, long tail hanging limply over her hind legs. She looked the picture of calm. Itachi knew better to believe that, of course. If there is one thing he has learnt in his time with Tomomi-san, it's that there is _little_ that pleases her, -like sleep, quiet and Okaa-san's Tuna rolls- and a great deal that puts her in a fouled mood.

 _People_ , being at the top of that long list.

The boy accompanying Itachi stepped forwards with narrowed eyes intent on the cat reclining in the tree, "Ehh? _This_ is the friend you keep going on about, Itachi?" the curly-haired boy asked incredulously before he sighed and shook his head morosely, a barely noticeable teasing lit in his voice. "I should've known..."

She felt a certain vindictive satisfaction at the unamused look the little weasel gave the other boy. Obviously not the reaction he had been expecting. Bright eyes looked up at her once more, "Tomomi-san, I brought a friend with me today. I wanted to introduce him to you."

No response.

"Ehh… Itachi, you _do_ know that you're talking to a cat... right?" the boy said, trepidation in his tone as he glanced at the little weasel. The boy thought that little weasel has lost his soft mind. This pleased her. Maybe the boy could convince little weasel that he did indeed lose his mind and then he would stop visiting her.

This is good, she decides.

If cat's could smirk, then she would surely be doing that now.

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the quiet Feline, at her tail that began to swing lazily back and forth in a rare, unconscious gesture that indicated her delight. And he suspected the reason. However, he would not concede so easily.

"Tomomi-san, I brought you something today." he announced, reaching into the small satchel on his hip and presenting an unevenly crafted clay cup, painted red and white with the Uchiwa fan prominently displayed.

Her ear twitched and she was tempted. It looked as if it was-But no, she would not give him the satisfaction of a reaction. Itachi did not frown, no, but he had been fairly certain that would've gotten a comment or two from her.

He really didn't want to resort to other methods.

Itachi decided to give her another chance, "Tomomi-san, are you certain that this is the action you want to take...?"

Her eyes narrowed sharply at what sounded suspiciously like a _threat_. Certainly he was not so foolish as to threaten her, was he? Once more she did not respond and Itachi exhaled long though his nose. She had choose this, he assured himself. In a short burst of speed he was behind her form on the tree, small hand wrapping itself around her long tail.

Then he _pulled_.

" _YEEEOOOOOOW!_ " She screeched, body lurching up and into the air, twisting before she landed again. There was fire and fury in her lime-green eyes as she whirled on him, "You little _shit_! How _dare_ you pull my tail! Do you have any idea just how sensitive a feline's tail is!?" she hissed venomously at him.

He bowed his head politely, smoothing out the twitch in his lips, "Apologies, Tomomi-san."

HIs apology was unaccepted apparently, because she proceeded to leap at him with sharp claws extended. He swiftly dodged her flurry, jumping back down to ground level. She pursued him and Itachi mused that maybe he should do this more often. Tomomi was quite lithe for a cat who slept all day and this was turning out to be rather good evasion training.

"What the _hell_!?" Cried the curly-haired boy. He was now pointing at the sleek black Feline with his mouth agape as Itachi continued to jump around the ruins, avoiding Tomomi's painful-looking claws and becoming more and more amused by her colorful language. He did not know what some of the words she threw at him meant but he was going to be sure to ask her after she had calmed down. Tomomi began to slow and he came to a stop beside his friend, she halted in front of the children and her anger palatable as she openly seethed at the little weasel.

" _What_ could I gave possibly done to ever deserve such a _fucking bane_ to my existence as _him_?!" she asked Life rhetorically, curling her abused tail around herself and glaring daggers into it's attacker's head.

Itachi was entirely unaffected by her surprisingly foul tongue as he gestured to the shell-shocked boy to his side. "Tomomi-san, I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Shisui. Shisui, this is Tomomi-san, the one I've been telling you about."

The Feline's face pulled up in a sneer, "You continue to fail to understand, little weasel. We. Are. Not. _Friends_."

The curly-haired boy known as Shisui frowned, over his shock of a talking cat already as he made a face at the Feline, "...you're kinda rude, aren't 'ya?"

In response, she gifted the curly-haired boy with a withering glare, "If you seek social niceties then I suggest you look _elsewhere_. Preferably _now_."

His young face soured. Shisui turned to the other boy and pointed an accusing finger at her, " _Itachiiiiii!_ She's so mean!"

Itachi completely failed to hide the twitch of his lips that time.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Ta-dah! A little update on Itachi and Tomomi while I'm busy writing up the prelims on 'ASfT', I got distracted with these two. Itachi had popped up and decided he needed more attention this week, and he brought along Shisui while he was at it, sooo… hope you guys liked it!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	9. 九 (Nine)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"Tomomi-san! Tomomi-san!"

The Feline sighed morosely as she was rudely awoken from her midday sun nap once again. March was always one of the best month for napping, it was right after the chill of winter had begun to die off and before the intolerant summers belonging to the Land of Fire had set in. Lime-green eyes opened to glare tiredly at the six year-old that came bounding into her domain, practically glowing with exuberance.

She admits to having her curiosity piqued when he came to a stop, _breathless_ , in front of her perch. Itachi looked up at her with bright eyes and excitement radiating off his small body that she had yet to see from the formal boy.

"You won't believe what's happened!" He said excitedly, acting his age for once.

She closed her eyes and settled her head more comfortably on her paws, "I do not care for guessing games, little weasel. Out with your news while you have my attention. It is fleeting."

He smiled widely, not that she was able to see it, unfazed by her dismissive way of speaking. That she was listening to him at all was a success! He straightened his back and stood to his full 3'9 height, trying and failing to repress his smile as he looked up at his furred companion.

"I'm going to be an elder brother!" He informed her, beaming with pride. He had learned from his Chichiue and Okaa-san not an hour ago that his Mother was with child, and due by late July as well! It was only a few months away! After announcing it to the rest of the Clan during Sumeragi-obaasan's anniversary party, Itachi had slipped away with the excuse of informing a friend of his. He had just been so excited to come out here to share it with Tomomi-san.

The Feline blinked slowly at the boy. She had always known this, this was not news. Nor was it a reason to be so damned excited _or_ a good enough excuse to have woken her up.

"Isn't that exciting news?" He asked eagerly, unconsciously bouncing on the balls of his feet once more.

There was quiet as she carefully chose her words.

"Do not bring him here." Was all she said.

She could practically see him wilt at her demand. That he is always such emotional flower, she begrudgingly found to be amusing. He was easy to excite whenever he was here, with her. She was not stupid. She has ventured into the Clan compound on occasion when she grew tired of eating wildlife, she has seen how stoic and polite he acts around other humans. She knows the boy had grown attached to her and as a result is comfortable in her presence.

It did not mean she would tolerate _another_ Uchiha spawn intruding in her domain though. She was thankful that young Shisui was often out on missions, too busy to bother her along with his friend.

One Uchiha was _far_ more than enough.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Dun-dun-DUUUN! Time is passing! Sasuke's gonna be born and we all know what happens after that, yes? Hope you liked it!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	10. 十 (Ten)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

It was one of those rare days that the Feline left the comfort of her solitude of her own free will and ventured into the Village. Usually she wouldn't be able to suffer the vaugely disguised militaristic atmosphere of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but, she figured that today was special occasion after all.

Today, was being celebrated as the official end of the Third Shinobi World War.

The Feline had had a sardonic laugh when young Shisui announced the celebration the other day, much to the two boy's bemusement. She knew that _unofficially_ the War had ended last September when the great ' _Hero_ ' Namikaze Minato had single-handedly massacred over a thousand Iwa shinobi within a single day.

She remembers, the Leaf had celebrated then, too.

It was on this rare of rare days that she chose to walk the streets of the Uchiha District. She very much liked the food the street vendor's would sneak to her when she passed. The Uchiha clan were particularly fond of cats, she observed. She would wonder how much of it had to do with the old Hag and Nekomata-chan at the Cat Fortress? She then shuddered as unpleasant thoughts of that old witch had sprung up without her consent. Her time was better spent on sneaking fried morsels from the sheep-minded humans than think upon old memories.

It was a small matter to one such as her to bound onto a fence and walk along it, one of the few benefits of her furred form, to get a better view of the crowded streets, apathetic eyes took in the sight below her. The dirt streets were filled with colorfully-dressed humans with laughter, cheers, blithe chatter filling air in every direction. In the distance she could even hear the sounds of a concert towards Senju Park, there was also talk of a fireworks display after the sun had set.

 _Noisy_ , she thought. With a flick of her long tail, the Feline turned and headed deeper into the district, towards the main compound where there was bound to be less merriment and more sheep-people with a partiality towards standoffish cats. Crossing a particularly high wall she heard a voice, speaking so animatedly the Feline was hard-pressed to believe it belonged to one of the Clan. As not many outsiders were entirely comfortable traveling so deep into the district, her curiosity was admittedly piqued to see what kind of soul would brave the trip.

It was on a idle whim that she descended from her stone walkway and into a traveled into a well-cultivated garden, towards the excited voice. It wasn't until she came upon a small patio that she recognized the form of the Clan's matriarch, Uchiha Mikoto, and her swelling stomach. Sitting across from her was the source of the excited chatter, a fair-looking woman with violet eyes and a mass of long, red hair that fell down her shoulders only to gather at her feet was speaking rapidly to the dark-haired woman while making spirited gestures with her hands. The Feline approached, her curiosity growing. The red-haired woman seemed vaguely familiar to her, like a nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

"—I'm just worried about him is all! Ever since the announcement last month he hasn't been sleeping, y'know! I think he's way too stressed about getting the Hat. He hardly even _touched_ his ramen the last time we went out, Mikoto! His _RAMEN_!" she cried incredulously.

The physical embodiment of grace, Uchiha Mikoto, did not roll her eyes at the other woman's wild gesticulating. Instead she spoke with a genteel smile and placating tone of voice, "I'm sure it's only temporary, Kushina. It will pass once he's had time to adjust to it all."

"That's what Biwako-Obasan said too! She keeps saying that it just an ' _adjustment period_ ' and that I should just ' _calm down_ '! Can you believe that? She told _me_ to calm down! It crazy!"

Mikoto nodded good-naturedly, "Unthinkable."

"Right!? It's crazy talk!" Kushina huffed.

Mikoto poured more tea, still nodding. "Completely."

"I mean, she even-" the woman, Kushina, stopped so abruptly that Mikoto looked up in mild alarm. Her friend was staring off into the bushes.

Wide violet eyes were locked with apathetic lime-green ones.

"Mikoto..." she murmured quietly, "...please tell me you see that cat, too."

Mikoto also glanced towards the Feline, she raised a brow at the unfamiliar stray. "Yes, Kushina. I see the cat." then her voice took on a dryer tone when Kushina continued to stare intensely, "I also saw a bird this morning. Right outside the kitchen window if you can believe it."

Kushina didn't seem to hear Mikoto's quip as her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head to the side.

"It's... kinda creepy... just sittin' there... _watching_ us." she murmured, in the next second she snatched something off the table next to her and held it out with a wide grin, "Here kitty-kitty! Wanna treat?"

The Feline stared at the cracker dully, her ear flicking in annoyance. She was a cat, not some dog that would take scraps from off the table. She was quite unimpressed. After getting no response, Kushina snorted in an unladylike way as she popped the cracker in her own mouth and spoke around it, spurting crumbs as she did. "Hah! She's an Uchiha alright! Just lookit how she turned her nose up at us 'ttebane!"

In response, Mikoto merely gifted her longtime friend and confidant a gracious smile. As a retired Kunoichi, it was just as deadly as it was beautiful. The woman with painfully bright red hair paled visibly, quickly raising her hands in surrender.

"Ah-cha-cha-cha! I'm sorry! I take it back!" Mikoto's intimidating aura lessened and the other woman sighed and shook her head, "You're so _scary_ , Mi-chan! I don't know how your husband puts up with you all of the time, 'ttebane. Not to mention my godson! Poor 'tachi-chan..."

The Uchiha matriarch demurely raised her cup to her lips before murmuring, "I wonder the same thing about Minato-kun all of the time, 'shina-chan."

They shared a glance before they simultaneously breaking into cheerful laughter and a soft chuckling. Soon, their conversation turned toward the dark-haired woman's swelling stomach and the topic and speculation of the unborn infant's sex and possible baby names.

The Feline could place the woman now. She was the lover of the soon-to-be Yondaime Hokage. Mother of the empty-headed, gold-hearted protagonist of a story she once heard about. A dead woman, or, soon to be one anyways. Her curiosity sated, the Feline turned and left, continuing on her way.

" _Eh_!? Tomomi is that you?"

It was young Shisui's voice that reached her ears. She took one look at the street-side of the fence and with a mischievous smile from the curly-haired youth, she quickly found herself sprinting back towards the noisy street to escape. Ever since their initial meeting weeks ago now, the thick-headed boy had gotten under the impression that inside the Feline was secretly a lover of all humans and that she only needed some encouraging.

Encouraging via... ugh, _hugs_.

Somehow, she blamed the little weasel for this.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this was oddly absent of any Ita-chibi. Pooh. But there was a peek at the Mothers pf the Narutoverse! I think that Kushina is a badass. Too bad we didn't get to see more of her. Hope you liked this!**

 **I _loooove_ you!**

 _-Nanami_


	11. 十一 (Eleven)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"You Uchiha do not seem to understand the concept of ' _no_ '." the Feline drawled, her voice low and threatening. Her eyes were dark with the promise of pain as she looked at the curly-haired boy in front of her. "Allow me to educated you... _Fuck. Off_." she spat venomously.

Young Shisui simply grinned sassily in response, his cheeks dimpling in a way that he probably thought was charming. Her ear flicked in peak annoyance. Just _how_ were these children so unaffected by her tongue? She has reduced grown men into simpering babes in the past with a far kinder disposition.

Another insanity of this world, she decides.

"C'mon, Tomomi~!" Young Shisui wheedled, taking another step towards her agitated form. "Just once? It'll be over before you know it and I even promise to be gentle!"

She raised her head haughtily and spoke in the most condescending tone she possessed. " _Touch me_ and I will _pluck_ those precious eyeballs out of your skull. I do not have any need for a _fucking hug_."

Shisui, completely unfazed by her empty threat, smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. Adopting a smug look found much too often on the face on an Uchiha. "Oh, yeah? And _then_ what will you do with them?" he asked challengingly.

Her eyes narrowed sharply.

"I'll _eat them_." she said with all the seriousness she possessed.

Shisui's smirk fell and he looked utterly disgusted.

"That's just _nasty_ , Tomomi. Also, totally not true."

Her tail began to swing lazily above her head, pleased with his reaction. "Says you. Fresh visual organs are a specialty in the Cat Fortress. A delicacy, really."

He narrowed his feminine eyes at her, wariness rising. "...you're lying."

There was only a hint of smugness in her tone, she did well to mask it. "Care to find out firsthand, child? I can recommend a food stand in Sora-ku for the next time you pass through. They d _eep fry_ them there. Gives it a nice _crunch_ , contrasts nicely with the _juicy_ center."

Shisui's face twisted and he began to make gagging noises.

" _Yugh_! Ugh- _GAH_! Oh, Kami! I-I can feel it in my _mouth_!" he shuddered violently, looking a bit green now. He then gave the Feline a baleful glare. "Y'know, I'd like to call your bluff but I'm really afraid of finding out at this point."

Shisui didn't know if a cat could smirk, but the expression of dark satisfaction Tomomi was wearing right now could be as close as he'll ever see. She settled against her stone perch comfortably, "Now if you're done, child, leave me in peace before the little weasel gets here. He'll be along shortly to disturb me today, I'm sure."

Shisui blinked, frowning as he cocked his head as he looked up at her.

"You mean, you don't know...?"

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Been a while, huh? Well, good news is it's a double posting! Go see what wrong with Itachi!**

 **Love you! _Now go_!**

 _-Nanami_


	12. 十二 (Twelve)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

Itachi groaned quietly, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the light causing him so much pain. A shiver went through his body and he wrapped himself up further in his blankets, regretting eating that little bite of breakfast he managed to keep down. If there was one thing that Itachi hated in this world, it was being sick.

"This wouldn't be happening if you didn't spend so much time on the forest floor, little weasel." drawled a bored voice. At the sound, two bloodshot eyes cracked open to stare up at the window sill he thought he'd closed. There, sitting primly, was the black furred Feline he calls Tomomi.

"To... momi-san? What are you... doing here?" he rasped, the action causing him to fall into another coughing fit for the umpteenth time that day.

She straightened her spine from her position on the sill, looking down on the bedridden boy with her usual indifferent eyes. "I've come to mock your misery, of course. Why else?"

He frowned, eyes narrowing at the cat.

"Go'way…" he mumbled.

She blinked in surprise, not expecting that kind of reaction. After recovering her senses she let out a low chuckle, settling herself in a more comfortable position. Things took an interesting turn than she had been expecting when she decided to see just how 'sickly' the little weasel was.

"It's not so pleasant when someone intrudes onto your domain, _is it_?" she taunted the child.

He gave her what she believed was supposed to be an attempted glare. However he just looked like a put-out kitten in her opinion, the boy did not know how to properly glare it seems.

"...why don't you go spend more time with _Shisui_ …" he muttered, pulling the blanket up to his face as he looked away from the Feline. She looked down at him incredulously.

"Why in the _nine circles of hell_ would I do that for!?"

His eyes were the only feature visible from beneath the bedding, he glanced back up at the Feline. "It's because… you spent the day with him at the festival... last week."

Her ear twitched.

"He _hunted me down_." she stressed. "I didn't want anything to do with the infernal teenager! The fever might've addled your soft head even further then usual but if you recall correctly, little weasel, _you_ are the ones to seek _me_ out."

Itachi didn't respond further, his bottom lip pushing out in what the Feline believed to be a _pout_. Her bewilderment increased ten-fold at the out of character expression. Perhaps the fever really did fry his little brain. Another chill racked his small body and he curled further up into the blanket cocoon.

The Feline exhaled long through her nose, her annoyance with the child fading. If only the slightest amount.

Despite her words, she actually didn't find any pleasure in seeing the little weasel in such a state of distress. The sight of his pale and sweaty face made her stomach turn uncomfortably. A part of her, the rational part, was telling her to leave him where he lie and return to her domain and remain there, unbothered and unconcerned for the rest of this short lifespan. Another part, the small and usually quiet and dormant part, saw a small girl with mousy brown hair that spoke with an unfortunate lisp instead of a much too proficient child soldier.

It pained her in a way not much has in many, _many_ years.

The latter part won out.

"Tell me, little weasel... have you ever heard the tale of one _Gol D. Rogers_? The first Pirate King?" she asked softly.

Itachi opened his eyes slightly, peering up at the Feline as if to see if the fever was playing tricks on him, causing him to imagine Tomomi speaking.

"...no." he said quietly.

She crossed her paws over one another and began.

"There was once a port city known as ' _The town of the Beginning and the End_ '." she told him, taking note of how he inched closer in his blanket cocoon so he could hear her better. "It was here that the man Gol D. Rogers was born, and it would also be where he died..."

Itachi listened to her tale with rapt attention, Tomomi was an excellent story-teller. He could imagine the seas and could practically smell the brine water from the details she added, it was as if she was telling it from her own personal experience. Soon his eyelids grew heavier with sleep and he was dreaming of far off seas. Even after Itachi had long drifted into a sleep filled with pictures of an endless blue expanse and fearless pirates, she had continued to speak. Getting lost in old, but no less fond, memories she wished would go away someday soon.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Aww, poor Itachibi. We got some more backstory on Tomomi, huh? What's that about? What's this chick- _err_ , cat's story?**

 **We'll find out eventually! Love you guys!**

 _-Nanami_


	13. 十三 (Thirteen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

Itachi sat himself down on the grass, exhaling long through his nose that it could almost be considered a sigh. The Feline cracked open a singular eye to peer at the boy, noticing how his small shoulders were drooped ever so slightly. Now, it's fair to say that a proper, responsible former human soul in a cat's body might attempt to show something akin to concern or interest in the young boy who is obviously distressed about whatever might have happened before his arrival.

However, the Feline was _not_ that kind of soul.

Instead of bothering herself with the trials of a six year-old, she closed her eye once more and was content in the silence. She drifted off into a sleepy daze that balanced on the line in between consciousness and dreams, her stretched body eagerly soaking in the rays of sun on the cloudless day.

She was at peace.

"HEY-O!" greeted a cheerful voice that sounded _directly behind her_. Shunshin no Shisui was living up to his name.

The Feline did not react well to the unexpected presence, exactly as Shisui had anticipated. She had yowled in surprise, body lurching into the air as her claws extended in a instinct of self-preservation that she had not felt in decades. She landed a few meters away from where she had been previously resting and glared with the threat of murder in her eyes as Shisui had a hand on his stomach as he snickered shamelessly, cheeks stretched wide in a grin that the Feline had the sudden urge to claw off.

"How many times do I have to tell you to _not do that_!?" the Feline seethed, futilely trying to calm her racing heart. She was sure the damned teen had just shaved off a couple years off this life. He paused in his snickering long enough to smirk victoriously at the angry cat.

"Well someone has to keep you on your toes! If I don't bring this kind of excitement to your life then before you know it, you'll be lazing around the Compound, perfectly content with being a fat housecat!" the curly-haired boy explained, "I'm only thinking about you!"

After that, the Uchiha boys saw an emotion from the surly Feline that they had yet to experience: _Indignation_.

The hair on her body stood out, bristling, as her tail raised and hung above her head in an aggressive bearing. "I am _not_ getting _fat_!" she snapped. There was still a grin on his face as spun on his heel to face the younger Uchiha.

"Hey, Itachi! So how was your first day at the Academy?" Shisui asked, switching the topic of conversation much too easily for a boy of twelve. Her indignation grew along with a good portion of irritation towards the boy. How dare he ignore her!

Itachi let out another long exhale, causing Shisui to arch an eyebrow at the boy as he now gave him his undivided attention. "...It was fine, I suppose."

The corners of Shisui's lips turned into a frown but he kept his expression neutral. "Something happen?"

"No... nothing of importance."

"Now, if that were true then you wouldn't be sulking." Shisui pointed out.

It was Itachi's turn to not-quite-frown. "I'm not sulking." he said almost defensively. Shisui continued his good-natured wheedling and Itachi rebuffed him for the next few minutes until the Feline let out a huff of annoyance, quite tired of this whole dance.

"Oh, just spit it out already!" she groaned, resuming her earlier sleeping placement and shooting a glare at the back of young Shusui's head in a warning to which he completely ignored. Itachi hesitated a moment before nodding and proceeding to retell the events of the day leading up to now. After he was finished, Shisui stared blankly at the younger boy.

"You set new course record during a training exam." he repeated, noticing how the younger boy's attitude had changed slightly when he mentioned it.

Itachi nodded. "I finished in thirty seconds." he clarified, then his face fell and a look of that was vaguely reminiscent of shame crossed his small features. "I could have done better if I had applied myself more. My mind was distracted. This morning I learned from Okaa-san that the baby would be due by late July."

Shisui's expression flattened. He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed the younger boy with a dry look, "Uh-huh. And how did everyone _else_ do?"

Itachi's brows pulled together, confused, but he answered dutifully. "Five minutes or so seemed to be the standard paradigm, I believe." he tilted his head slightly, large eyes shining with that curious look. "Why?"

Shisui glanced over and gave the Feline a _look_ as if to say; 'See what I have to deal with?'. In response she rolled her eyes and lied back down, wishing for the better days before bothersome Uchiha spawn.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Aw, Itachibi has such horrible problems, doesn't he? Sigh. The trouble of being a genius, I suppose. Well, we're nearing the births of the Rookie 9 soon. A fair few have already popped out but we're waiting on two babies in particular, right? I know I am.**

 **On a side note, I want to give a great, big, warm Thank You to everyone that had taken the time to read and review this story. It really gives my inspiration, so, thank you. You guys are so great!**

 **I love you~ _Mwah_!**

 _-Nanami_


	14. 十四 (Fourteen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

The 22nd of July was a tumultuous day for the head household of the Uchiha Clan. Uchiha Mikoto had gone into labor an entire week before the expected due date, sending the majority of the household into a frenzy.

Fugaku continuously barked out orders to any poor fool that crossed his path and to the midwives that they had pretended to heed as they performed their _actual_ tasks to perfection, as they had been trained. Fugaku himself had not been present for Itachi's birth, he had been far away at the frontlines in Kusa at the time, so this was a startlingly new experience for him. One he was not going to miss even the Kami themselves came down to intervene. It was as he'd been ushered into a corner of the room that he'd wished he could do something helpful instead of standing by and watching his wife do all the work.

Mikoto, between the contractions and the immense pain, tried to assured her flustered husband that everything, was in fact, under control and that everything was going to be fine. Her wish was a selfish one, that her closest friend was there to berate her husband for his panicking to Mikoto's disapproval and secret delight and to yell at her to get this over with a push the damn baby out already so she could meet her new godchild. Another contraction tore a scream from her throat. She _really_ wished Kushina was there.

Itachi was doing no better upstairs inside his room. He was pacing back and forth restlessly, wearing furrows into the tatami mats, he was sure. He couldn't help it, every few minutes it seemed his Mother would let out a wail of agony that had his every protective instinct set on edge, urging him to move out and set up a perimeter and establish a safe zone. It was ridiculous, he knew. That's why he was pacing, so he could relieve some of his anxiety. Childbirth was an especially dangerous time after all, more so for kunoichi than a civilian. He had learned this from one of the many child-rearing books he had read in preparation of this day.

His only wish was that for his mother and new sibling to emerge from this safely.

The Feline, of course, was nowhere the hell near the Village. She was going to enjoy the elusive day of tranquility, even if it was at the cost of Itachi's own peace of mind. Not that the Feline could have anything to say that would dissuade his anxieties. So she lied awake on her smoothed stone under the sun for hours until the sun finally set beyond the horizon and silently cursed the little weasel, who had not shown up once, for the sleep that escaped her.

At dawn on July 23rd, after twenty-two hours of labor, Uchiha Sasuke took in his first breath and let out an ear-piercing wail to announce his arrival to the world.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: And Sasuke is born! Hopefully I can get out another little chapter in a few days instead of two weeks, hehehe... whoops. Hope you liked it!**

 **Love you guys!**

 _-Nanami_


	15. 十五 (Fifteen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was a small, pink thing made-up of pudgy wrinkled flesh with only a few small tresses of dark hair on his head. He cried at all hours of the night, seemingly timing it after one had just gotten back to sleep, demanded constant attention and nursing, would spit up on you _only_ when you'd just put on a clean shirt, created the most foul-smelling diapers in all of Fire country and Itachi had loved him the moment he first set his eyes on him.

"Just look at him, Tomomi, he's _glowing_." Shisui snickered. The Feline rolled her eyes at the grinning curly-haired boy situated next to Itachi. Itachi ignored his obnoxious friend as he paid rapt attention to the swaddled infant in his arms who had just begun making the most endearing garbling sounds!

The four of them were seated out on the patio of Itachi's house, enjoying a rare day of rest. The Feline had made the mistake of choosing today to be one of her, admittingly more frequent, walks around the Village. She blamed the little weasel for this disruption in her once-tranquil lifestyle. For days on end these last few weeks she has attempted to nap away the time in her domain only to be kept awake by the anxiety of the idea of being rudely awoken by one of the Uchiha spawn's arrival. An arrival that did not come as neither boys had come to bother her once since the youngest Uchiha spawn's birth. It was frustrating to no end. To alleviate her newfound energies she has taken up the habit of walking farther and longer inside the Village than she has been has been entirely comfortable before.

Her extended walks had nothing to do with the quip Young Shisui had made about her weight a few weeks ago. And it was only because of the selection the street vendors that she would end up gravitating towards the series of streets that made up the unofficial ' _Uchiha District_ '.

Her motives were entirely self-serving.

Right now the Feline was curled comfortably on the edge of the deck, walking the blissful line of consciousness and dreams. Itachi lied his baby brother on the pile of blankets beside him as Shisui had just engaged him in a conversation of ninjutsu theory and no one was paying particular attention to the tiny hand that reached out from the swaddle of blankets. No one had noticed how little Sasuke's eye had caught on something that had been waving in the air nearby, looking very much like a toy of some sorts. How he had reached up with his pudgy hands and found a solid grip with a strength highly unusual for an infant on something soft and nice to the touch.

Then he pulled.

…on Tomomi's tail.

The Feline _howled_ and the infamous eyes of Uchiha boys widened to the extent that they almost fell out of their heads. In a second, Itachi was over his brother and braced himself to take the swipe from Tomomi's claws in Sasuke's place and Shisui's body was already tensed, prepared to shunshin the surly cat away from the infant. But no reprisal came. Instead the Feline's claws dug harshly into the wooden floors, leaving streaks behind as her tail was swiftly liberated by Itachi's intervention. Itachi and Shisui held their breaths as Tomomi removed her claws and slowly turned her head to face them, her fangs were fully bared and Itachi hurried to apologize for his younger brother.

"Apologies, Tomomi-san, I should have been paying closer attention to Sasuke. He has recently developed the habit of grasping at anything within sight and I didn't think much of it when I set him down. This is my fault." Itachi told her sincerely, bowing his head. A feeling of guilt panged in his chest as he cradled the obliviously giddy Sasuke, who was still trying to reach out to the angry Feline. It was one thing to nettle her on purpose when she is being stubborn and provocative but it was an entirely other thing when she was at rest, letting her guard down in their presence like she had been.

She did not appear to be satisfied with the apology as her fur was still on end. Shisui sighed. "C'mon, Tomomi! He's just a baby, a half an hour ago he was eating his foot! Don't hold it against him!" Shisui tried, though he too felt a bit guilty at the very understandable accident. Her response was to pin them both with a heated glare.

"I do not give two damns about how old he is! I want nothing to do with that... that... _devil child_!" she seethed. Itachi frowned. "And I do not care how many luncheons you try to pacify me with! I will not tolerate being used as a _toy_!"

Itachi stilled, realizing with a heavy gravity and shame that he had made the mistake of underestimating the Feline. He made a silent promise to himself that he would not do so again. She turned her back to them and headed towards the gate that lead out to the alley. Shisui stood and called after her, "Where're you going? Tomomi!"

"Back to my moss and stone, brat. And I expect to stay there undisturbed! I hope that you remember my _explicit request_ , little weasel." she shouted back at them before bounding over the fence and disappearing from their sight. Itachi did. He remembered her words quite clearly.

' _Do not bring him here_ ', she had said in reference to his baby sibling. A sudden thought occurred to him that hadn't when he first heard her words, as he had been too distracted at the time. Itachi was now presented with the latest puzzle in relation to Tomomi, the talking cat that was not a summons who lived in the ruins of the old Senju compound.

How had Tomomi known that Itachi was going to have a brother before anyone else did?

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Yay! Another little chapter and it didn't even take two weeks! This is just a little glimpse of some Uchiha fluff pre-Nine Tails, a little bit about Tomomi's current mindset and some intrigue on Itachibi's side. Hope you liked it!**

 **Love you guys! Have a safe Halloween!**

 _-Nanami_


	16. 十六 (Sixteen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

The night the Kyuubi attacked was a nightmarish one.

The air had stank of ash and charred flesh. On every street that hadn't been ravaged by the Nine-Tails blind rampage, lie bodies of those that hadn't been quick enough to escape the devastation.

That night, the Leaf had been thrown into hell.

Truly, the Feline had never experienced something quite so terrifying as a rampaging Bijū in all her years of living. Never felt the pure, unadulterated Murderous Intent that choked the air more thickly than the smoke from the fires.

For some _insane_ reason and temporary loss of all common sense, the Feline had found herself on the crumbling streets of the Southern District running as fast as her legs would permit with the little weasel, infant brother and small female classmate in tow, right on her heels as she weaved through the devastated buildings of what used to be the meat markets. They narrowly avoided a building falling on top of their heads and she had cursed out every Divine and Kami of this land and the last one for this, she didn't think much of the consequences of doing such a thing. There was much anyone or _anything_ could do to her that was worse than what she was already being punished for, not even that _damned 90-foot fox demon_. She had faced real demons before.

Soon they had taken refuge among the throngs of ash-covered non-combatants of the Leaf in the Southern shelter located in the side of the Hokage monument. They all were as quiet as death in that cave, the prayers they murmured were breathless whispers, even the smallest of the children had wept silently as everyone waited. Waited for either a set of snarling jaws to tear through the mountain and seal their fate or for the sirens to sound the all-clear, announcing the end of it all.

The girl that was clinging to Itachi's shirt had also scooped up the Feline in her embrace, holding her to her chest as she whimpered quietly. She did not attempt to leave.

The Feline, like all the others present, had waited.

Three hours they sat together in that constant state of fear.

Three hours until the Konoha Military Police Force opened the doors and began to lead the citizens out of the cave. Out into the smoldering carcass of their home.

On the outskirts of the Village of Konohagakure, the Kyuubi was sealed away and a newborn boy was made an orphan. He would grow under the shadow of the events of this night, and be cursed for it.

The next morning the Yondaime Hokage was declared dead and the Sandaime Hokage donned the Hat again, with a heart heavy with mourning and a soul weary with loss.

The Feline would never speak of that day again.

Itachi would remember it until the day he died.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Ahhh… it's happened. Naruto was finally born. This was the first step towards our tragedy. Not many funnies here, we'll get to see the aftermath in the following chapters.**

 **I wuv yew guys...**

 _-Nanami_


	17. 十七 (Seventeen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

The Leaf was slow to rebuild in the months following the Kyuubi attack. Houses and buildings were re-erected and repaired. Stores and merchants restocked. School's reopened. The Human's wept for those lost and kept moving forward, trying to adjust with their new realities.

The Clan was rounded up and secluded off into a corner of the Village, far from it's heart where they had always resided. Once upon a time, decades ago now, the Uchiha and Senju had lived side-by-side at the very center of the Village. They stood beside each other with tentative trust as the other clans came to them and grew the city around them that everyone knew now as Konohagakure.

Fugaku became more closed off to his wife and sons as he steadily became weighed down with balancing the new discontentment among his clansmen and the animosity aimed towards them by those that were supposed to be _allies_ as he also fought against thinly veiled accusations of the Uchiha's involvement with the October 10th attack. Every day, he looked a little more worn down than the last.

Mikoto spent many weeks dedicating herself to helping the families of the Clan to adjust to their new habitat and aiding where she was permitted at the Leaf's hospital. Always making time to stop by the Maternity Ward to look in on all the infants that had been orphaned after that night. She mothered Sasuke to an excessive degree, enough for two children, determined to make up for some failing that was beyond her control.

Young Shisui had come back from his mission out of Village to devastation and a Village in mourning. After learning the events of the night he foolishly felt a kind of guilt for not being present and risking his life with those declared dead. The Feline had made sure to tell him how much of an idiot he was for thinking that. Itachi had not voiced his agreement aloud, but there had been many a blank yet judgmental stare sent the curly-haired boy's way.

The little weasel had decided to grow his hair out. The Feline had snorted ungracefully and mocked him, commenting on how feminine he already was and asking if he had a desire to be mistaken for his Mother. Itachi had not seen this in a negative light however, he respected his Mother greatly and would've been honored to share more similarities to her. Shisui had laughed at the Feline's face as she stared at the far-too innocent boy. She honestly wondered if he didn't understand her intent or if he _did_ and just turned the insult into a compliment on purpose!

She wasn't entirely sure if she _wanted_ to know.

November came and went and Itachi was given and subsequently passed the genin exam with one of the highest scores in it's short history. He graduated the next year in the fall, receiving his headband and was instated as a full genin and a legal adult in the eyes of the Village.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Another shot of love, luvs! A brief look at the Uchiha in the aftermath of the Kyuubi and a skip to Itachi's genin days! More things -concerning Tomomi's past- are going to be revealed! Hope you liked it!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	18. 十八 (Eighteen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

" _What_... did you say?"

Unreadable lime-green eyes bore into hesitant onyx ones. The Feline's voice had been low when she spoke, dangerously calm even. _That_ unsettled Itachi far more than her angry outbursts. Anger was something he was used to receiving when dealing with Tomomi. But calm? A calm response when he expected an outburst set him on edge.

"My Team has been assigned a mission to Sora-Ku. Nekobaa has requested me. We are to leave in an hour." he said, making sure every word was clearly spoken.

Her eyes narrowed at the boy, tail curling around her paws. "Why are you telling me this? You have already been on multiple missions since you were officially inducted as a child-soldier and you've never felt the need to tell me where you were going. What makes this different?"

Vaguely, Itachi felt like this question was a trap. He ignored that trained instinct as he has always known Tomomi to be blunt and to say what was on her mind, such tactics were not her style, so to speak.

"Because, I thought that you would like to know." he answered. She didn't look convinced. He continued, "I know that you have a connection with Nekobaa, but I am unaware of what terms you are on with her, and I didn't want you to think that I was hiding anything by not mentioning it to you beforehand as this would be my first time traveling to Sora-ku without Otou-sama present."

She caught on, "You were worried I would assume that because you are unsupervised, you'd snoop in matters that didn't concern you by asking that old Witch questions about me." she surmised dryly.

Itachi pressed his lips together. It had been a worry for him, he didn't want to risk their relationship because she had assumed the worst of him as she usually did with people. He had decided it was best to err on the side of honesty whenever dealing with Tomomi. Secretly, the boy harbored a suspicion that she could sniff out deceit, quite literally. To this day he was not been able to get away with the smallest of lies when speaking with Tomomi, whether it was about conveniently leaving the Tuna Rolls behind or about how many hours he had spent training that day, usually attempting to omit the couple hours he'd spent at dawn or during lunch, knowing about Tomomi's particular dislike of anything having to do with his activities as a Shinobi.

Another thing that Shisui was better than Itachi at; lying. He made a mental note to try and practice more. It was invaluable skill for a Shinobi to have, after all.

Tomomi did not say much after that as she lied down and turned on her side, obviously dismissing him. He left her like that, content with the knowledge that he had informed her of his destination. Though, Itachi would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't the _least_ bit curious as to Tomomi's past with Nekobaa. How she came to learn how to speak like a human without previous training or how she had come to know so much about life and the world even through it was obvious that she did not often leave the ruins on the outskirts of the Village? Even now, she rarely visits the newly established Uchiha district after the events of October 10th. Privately, that saddened Itachi. He quite enjoyed the times she would visit and he would be able to spend time with both her and Sasuke. He was disappointed but... he understood why. And it wasn't as if he could try convince her to come by more often, not when she had already gone out of her way for him.

He remembers, how she had come to his house during the Kyuubi's attack to make sure that he and Sasuke had gotten out. That memory was the only good thing to come out of that night.

So, one would be able to imagine Itachi's surprise when he arrived at the Southern Gate after gathering his supplies to leave and witnessed his teammate, Shinko-san, cooing over a _very_ familiar black cat with her hands clasped in front of her chest. "Well aren't you just a sweetheart!" she gushed, reaching her hand down towards the Feline with a wide smile. Itachi felt a wave of panic and felt the urge to stop her before she could be wounded by Tomomi's claws. The only reason he didn't was because of what Tomomi did next...

Tomomi _mewled_.

Itachi stared in disbelief as the Feline, for he was _sure_ it was her, continued to mewl at his teammate's physical affections and even pressed her lithe body against Shinko-san's leg, _purring_. The boy then raised a hand and placed it on his forehead, but no. He was not running a sudden fever. This was no hallucination brought on by sickness.

Tomomi was acting like a... a... _cat_.

His mind, as advanced as it faculties are, could not properly process the sight. Lime-green eyes spotted his form and he involuntarily stiffened as she broke away from his teammate's side, approaching him. After reaching him Tomomi leapt up and he braced himself, only to become deathly still as she climbed upon his shoulders, wrapping her body around the back of his neck and settling herself on his small shoulders.

Itachi did not know what was happening.

Minazuki-sensei, however, was not amused by any of this.

"Is this _your_ cat, Uchiha?" he demanded.

"No, Minazuki-sensei." Itachi denied softly, still unsure of what exactly was happening. "Tomomi-san is a stray."

"You _named_ a _stray_?" the man asked, incredulity underlining his tone.

"...yes." he confirmed.

"Well, can you-" he waved his hand in a vague shooing gesture towards the apathetic cat, "-so we can get going already?"

Itachi glanced at Tomomi out of the corner of his eye, meeting lime-green eyes. He saw obstinance in her gaze. She had made a decision and wasn't going anywhere. He looked back up at his jōnin-sensei, speaking a bit apologetically. "It would appear that Tomomi-san wishes to travel to Sora-ku with us."

Minazuki-sensei _stared_ , not bothering to hide his incredulity now.

Tomomi gave no verbal answer, nor any indication of her intentions.

Minazuki-sensei sighed, relenting. The Uchiha prodigy could do as he liked in his opinion. If that meant he wanted to bring his pet on a mission then as long as it didn't interfere with his duties as a genin, Yūki couldn't really be bothered to give a damn. The Inuzuka brought their dogs everywhere. Why couldn't an Uchiha bring their cat?

As Team 2 finally ventured out on the road to Sora-ku, with only a few minor complaints from Tenma-kun about Tomomi's presence -he had been silenced after a dark look directed at him from the cat that no one else had witnessed-, there was only one thing Itachi knew was for certain as he contemplated the new -and warm- weight on his shoulders:

He was very, _very_ confused.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Ahh, another update! What a surprise! Ah, I just felt a bit bad about that last chapter, it was really just an interlude to show the passing of time to set up this one. I didn't want to leave it at that for a week or so, just didn't feel right to me. So! Feel free to speculate on what's going through Tomomi's mind as we finally head towards Nekobaa, she'll finally give Itachi -and us- some answers about Tomomi's past! Yay! Hope you liked it, guys!**

 **Love you!**

 _-Nanami_


	19. 十九 (Nineteen)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

She... was not impressed.

Sora-ku was a flicker of it's former self, the Feline thought to herself as she dragged apathetic green eyes across the worn-down buildings and dirty streets. She remembers how she had first looked upon the stone buildings that reached towards the sky and the feeling of being caught in a strange sense of deja vu as she did. The former Sora-ku from her fading memories had been so very similar to another concrete city that she only remembers thinking about when she was so many years younger. Now though, the buildings were worn with time and mistreatment with all the windows shattered, leaving jagged remnants in the sills. The roads could hardly be called that anymore. All cracked and ill-repaired, surely done by unknowledgeable idiots. The streets themselves were rotten with garbage and filth, and then there was the trash lining the gutters. She sneered, disgusted. The entire former-city reeked of avarice and all manner of human failings, how the Hag could stand to continue to call this her domain was well beyond her understanding.

"We are here." the little weasel announced, stopping in front of a darkened alleyway. The Female child soldier looked down it with wide, hesitant eyes while the Other Male gave the Uchiha spawn a look of disbelief.

"The client lives _here_?" Izumo Tenma demands of Itachi, fisting his hands and puffing out his chest in a -most likely unconscious- gesture of superiority over the younger boy.

"Yes." Itachi answers politely, "Nekobaa's shop is down here and to the left. It is also where she and her Granddaughter live."

Tomomi's tail twitched over his arm, indicating to him that something has caught her attention. He files that detail away in his mind for later inspection, they were still on-duty after all.

The Other Male then scowls, the effect ruined by his youthful face, the Feline thinks. "And you're sure about this? We can't waste time by gettin' lost here."

Inari Shinko steps forward, half-way placing her body between the Other Male and the little weasel. "Come on now, Tenma. Itachi-kun has been here before so he knows the way, right?" she turns slightly to Itachi and he nods in confirmation.

The Useless Adult, Minazuki Yūki, interrupts whatever the Other Male has to say by speaking, suggesting that they get a move on. Thankfully, this works and they are entering the darkened alleyway now. It also reeks of human filth, she notes. Itachi stops in front of an unmarked metal door and wraps his small hand around the bar, leaning his weight on it's surface and pushing it open. The interior of the store was just as unappealing as the outside, except there were shelves lined with tacky cat-themed knickknacks. It was everything the Feline had been expecting, not a thing had moved out of place since the last time she was here. As the little weasel led the way further in the Feline's eyes met with slit, plastic pupils that bobbed back and forth in time with the infernal ticking of the second-hand.

 _Lord_ , she hated that Maneki Neko clock.

"I smell visitors~!" a croaking voice called out, bouncing off the concrete walls. Tomomi's body unconsciously stiffened around Itachi's shoulders at who he recognized as Nekobaa's voice and he glanced up at her in curiosity. She looked as utterly bored as she usually did. Though his eyes remained forward, Itachi became hyper-aware of Tomomi's every movement from her place around his neck. He walked through the narrow halls with the ease of habit, having been here many times before with Otou-sama when he would place orders for the Clan with Nekobaa. Soon, they came upon the main room where they all were greeted with the sight of an aging, grey-haired, cat-eared, pipe-smoking woman sitting on giant cushion and surrounded on all sides by cats of all different coats and breeds.

"Itachi-chan! You've finally made it! I was starting to-" she stopped suddenly, leaning forward in her seat and dislodging a number of cats that had previously made themselves comfortable on her. Her already narrow eyes pinched together as she scrutinized the Feline on Itachi's shoulders. Nekobaa then let out a sudden, surprised bark of laughter, "Ha- _HA_! I must be getting old... Tell me honestly Itachi-chan, are these old eyes finally failing me or do I spy Ho-chan perched on your shoulders there?"

Itachi blinked.

Ho-chan?

"Who is-" Tomomi's claws suddenly dug into his shoulder through the fabric and Itachi bit his tongue, he now realized the reason behind Tomomi's choice in seating. It was the place she could inflict maximum damage with the minimum amount of effort. He should have seen this coming.

The Feline's voice was as sharp as her claws. "Do _not_ call me by that name, Hag."

The surprised reactions at hearing Tomomi speak from Itachi's teammates were overlooked as Nekobaa let out another cackle, grinning wide at the Feline "It _is_!" Nekobaa exclaimed, "My, this is a surprise! I hadn't been expecting to see your sour mug again before I'd passed into the next life!"

"Disappointment is abound... I assure you." Tomomi drawled dryly. "Here, I'd been half-hoping that they'd already buried you with your damned Maneki's."

"Only _half_ , Ho-chan? You've gotten soft in your old age!" Nekobaa accused. Itachi watched this all in absorbed silence. He had been expecting Tomomi to act just as she had been but Nekobaa's reactions to Tomomi's barbed retorts were another matter. It appeared that she almost was... enjoying it. Itachi stiffened as Tomomi shifted, getting to her paws and jumping down from her place on his shoulders.

"Where is that dead-beat son of yours?" she asked, tail lazily waving behind her as she sat in front of the woman. "If I remember correctly, he was the one I'd bet on killing you before you drove him mad. Him or the young man from the noodle shop."

Nekobaa scowled, " _Dead_ , I hope. The little shite ran off a couple months back and left Tamaki-chan on my doorstep. Poor girl. I'll do a better job with her than I did that no-good louse!"

Tomomi scoffed, "I _told you_ that you should've been more strict with him when he was a pup. This was a result of your over-indulgence. You applauded that idiot-child too much for too little. Be sure not to screw up the next one, Hag." then she added in a tone mostly to herself, "...if you _live_ that long, of course."

"Yeah, yeah. Gloat why dont'cha!" Nekobaa sighed, shaking her head as she lifted the pipe to her lips. The corner of her mouth was still lifted in a smile. " _Haaah_ … you never change Hotaru."

Itachi was stunned. This... was not remotely what he had been expecting. From what he had previously heard from Tomomi about Nekobaa, he had assumed that they were on worse terms but... they were talking like old acquaintances. Albeit, not very friendly but acquaintances all the same.

Minazuki-sensei cleared his throat pointedly.

"Uhm. Sorry to interrupt your..." he eyed Tomomi uneasily. She seemed amused by this. "... _reunion_ , but we are here about the mission? You are the one who requested us?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, yeah." Nekobaa then began to explain the details involving her request. Team 2 was tasked with the retrieval of a mission of a missing ninneko, they were to find him and return him safely to his family. His team began to prepare to go out and begin the search but Itachi hesitated as they headed towards the door, glancing back at Tomomi who seemed to be unconcerned about everything around her.

"Don't you children have a cat to find?" the Feline asked pointedly, her green-eyed stare unusually hard as she looked at them. Minazuki-sensei, after remembering himself, also urged them to move forward with the mission. As it was a fairly low-risk task, he would not accompany them on their retrieval. Opting to instead, stay behind and gather information on any potential missing-nin from the Bingo book as Sora-ku was infamous for their less-than-strict views on certain persons and even _less_ strict rules about offering shelter of such persons.

Itachi spared the black-furred cat one more glance before placing the cat ears upon his head and venturing out with his teammates. A small, irrational part of him feared that she would no longer be there when he returned. A greater part of him though, believed she would be still waiting.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Nekobaaaaa! And Tomomiiiii! So? Was this what any of you were expecting? Sorry about the wait guys but things happened and all that. But at least we got a decent sized chapter this time around! Next chapter we will finally, _finally_ learn about Tomomi's past! I'm so excited to show you guys! Alright, 'till next time!**

 **I love you guys!**

 _-Nanami_


	20. 二十 (Twenty)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat "**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

The mission was a success, Team 2 had located and then captured the targeted ninneko with minor trouble and returned him to his worry-stricken family. When they had reported back to Nekobaa and Minazuki-sensei, Itachi had been relieved on Tenma-kun's behalf when Nekobaa did not suspect anything dubious involving the ninneko's missing whiskers. But now that they had delivered a mission success and while Minazuki-sensei was discussing a payment method with Nekobaa, Itachi's mind became preoccupied with wondering after the whereabouts of Tomomi—he mentally corrected himself. That was not her name. Nekobaa had called her by the name of _Hotaru_. Itachi would not say it aloud, but he privately thought that Tomomi suited her personality better.

His perceptive eyes were scanning the room for any sign of the Feline's black coat through the herd of other, non-speaking, cats when Nekobaa suddenly spoke up,

"I want to add an extension to the mission! I have a task that only Itachi-chan can fulfill." She announced, drawing the attention of Itachi's previously distracted teammates. They had been playing with some of the more energetic kittens,

"Uh, really?" Minazuki-sensei asked uncertainly, glancing at the Uchiha heir. "Depending on what you have in mind the necessary adjustments will have to be made to the mission request, and—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know all that." the old woman interrupted with a wave of her hand, her eyes landing on Itachi, Minazuki-sensei scowled but quickly cleared his expression, "Don't worry I only need to borrow him for an hour or so at the most. What do you say, Itachi-chan? Won't you spend a little time keeping an old woman company?"

And that is how Itachi found himself sitting in the seiza position at a low table as Nekobaa poured them both a freshly-brewed cup of a particularly aromatic tea. After accepting Nekobaa's request of a mission extension Itachi had followed the cat-lover of a woman into the apartment adjoining the shop, her home, leaving the rest of Team 2 to await his return. Upon entering the small den the Uchiha boy had felt a sense of relief when he spotted the familiar sleek, black coat of To—Hotaru-san. His relief was replaced with mild alarm when he realized that Nekobaa's infant granddaughter was curled beside the sleeping form of Hotaru-san and that the girl's small and vulnerable face was nosing into the ill-tempered cat's fur. Itachi made an aborted move to distance the two before something regretful might occur but was stopped by a wave of Nekobaa's hand.

"Leave them, Itachi-chan. Tamaki-chan has taken a liking to Ho-chan and though she wouldn't say so, the trip here wore her out. I doubt that either of them will be in a very good mood if we wake them now." Nekobaa explained, sliding a steaming cup over to him.

"But, Hotaru-san dislikes—"

"Don't let her sharp tongue fool you, Itachi-chan, she has a soft spot for the little ones."

That was something Itachi did not know. Quietly, he sipped the tea and processed this new information. Nekobaa placed her elbow on the surface of the low table and rested her chin in her hand, observing him. He did not know why, he hoped it did not have to do with the missing whiskers. The silence in the room, save for the soft melting of the other cats, went on for several minutes until the tea had cooled. Then, Nekobaa breached the subject.

"Tell me, Itachi-chan, do you know why Ho-chan is the way she is?" Mutely, he shook his head. "All right then, you know your history? About the Warring-Clans era and how the Shinobi Villages were established?"

"As much as I was allowed access to, there is still a number of Hopi stories and scrolls that have been sealed away by the Elders. I do know how the peace pact between the Senju and Uchiha facilitated the path towards building Konohagakure." Itachi informed the woman dutifully.

"Good, good, then that saves us some time. I'm about to tell you a story that took place long before the the great handshaking between the Uchiha and the Senju, there was a small coastal village that also housed a small compound for the Senju towards the south of what's now known as the Land of Tea. There, lived a man named Senju Hisao and a woman called Kiyoshi."

Nekobaa paused in her story long enough so that she could light her pipe, taking a long inhale of it before continuing in a reminiscing tone. Itachi's tea had long been set aside, his mind too focused on the details of the story, looking for any connection that it might have with the talking Feline he has come to know.

"Hisao was something of a scholar and unlike many of his clansmen of the time, was not a trained shinobi in any manner of the word. This was because he'd been born prematurely, small and weak. Many said it had been a miracle that he'd survived his infancy in the first place. So, smaller, weaker and more prone to illness than the rest of his brothers yet still apart of one of the most influential clans in the countryside, Hisao had been sheltered from the harsh lifestyle of a ninja and became dedicated to learning the written word. It was here, when he was forced to stay within the safety of the compounds walls that he met the clanless Kiyoshi. She was just an insignificant and forgettable soul in the small village. Certainly no one that one would take special notice of... yet, for some unexplained reason, Hisao had seen Kiyoshi. Even when no one else had."

"He had been about thirteen winters old, and she ten, when the sickly boy first met the near-feral girl. He had been studying out amongst the trees and the sounds of nature when a girl half his size had marched through the clearing with a boar slung over her scrawny shoulders. He had stared at her with awe, his scrolls forgotten in his hands. She had ignored his very existence, just as everyone ignored her. This became a routine for them, you see. He had been _struck_!" Nekobaa laughed suddenly, a smile growing on her wrinkled face. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that love at first sight doesn't exist, Itachi-chan, because that phase had never been truer for poor Hisao. He started showing up to that stretch of the woods at every moment he could steal."

"What of Kiyoshi-san? Did she return the sentiment?" Itachi asked interestedly, unconsciously leaning forward to hear her as clearly as possible.

"She rejected him at every turn, of course!"

Itachi blinked.

"What?"

Nekobaa chuckled at the boy's reaction. "Yeah, that's how Hisao reacted at first, too. See, what Hisao did not know about the wild girl is that for as long as she had lived she had never known love of any kind, not from the parents that she did not know or from the villagers who chose to pretend she was not a child in need of simple human kindness. Everyone but Hisao. It took many, _many_ years and attempts but that damned stubborn boy wore down her walls and stole a place in her heart. Hisao grew into a fine young man and an better scholar and Kiyoshi grew to be a envious beauty—Ho, ho! A _real_ knockout! And with the help of Hisao, she became acknowledged by the villagers and began to learn the ins and outs of barter and trade. Eventually, they confessed their love and promised their lives to one another."

Nekobaa stopped in her story once more but Itachi could not taper his enthusiasm, he spoke calmly but there was a unusual shine to his dark eyes as he did. "And then Hisao-san and Kiyoshi-san married, correct?" He was eager to learn the connection to Tomomi he'd been waiting for. Perhaps _they_ had ended up teaching a certain cat to speak? Itachi had always privately thought that Tomomi was older than she should be simply by the way she speaks and how she holds herself. If perhaps by some as of yet unexplained phenomena, has allowed Tomomi to live this long then it would explain how the Feline seems to know so many things.

Nekobaa exhaled, releasing a cloud of smoke to linger before dissipating into the air.

"No."

Itachi's previous enthusiasm dampened.

"...no?" He repeated.

"No." Nekobaa confirmed. Then, a somber look drew over her face, causing Itachi's brow to furrow slightly in concern. "No, Itachi-chan. They never had gotten the chance to marry because... Hisao died. There has been a harsh winter, one of the worst in decades. Hisao had fallen ill with a terrible fever, and... his heart had given out in the middle of the night."

A silence washed over the room, even the cats roaming the room had quieted with the change in atmosphere.

"What... what happened to Kiyoshi-san?" he asked, his soft voice even smaller.

"Her heart had been broken in a way that she never quite recovered from, a part of her dying alongside her beloved Hisao... but, she did not have time to mourn her lost love because the very next morning, Hisao... his eyes had opened again."

Itachi's breath caught in his throat as his eyes widened.

"Kiyoshi's own heart had stopped in her chest as she looked at her formerly-dead lover and childhood friend, but it was when she looked into his eyes that she knew it was no longer her Hisao... when she looked into his face she did not see the warm brown eyes that she had come to love, instead... they were glowing brightly, green and yellow. Just like fireflies."

Like fireflies? Green and yellow eyes—No. _Lime_ - _green_ eyes, Itachi realized.

 _Hotaru_ meant _Firefly_.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Tah-daaaaaah! Just in time before Christmas! Yay! Well...? I bet a lot of you were thinking that Tomomi was Kiyoshi, huh? We're gonna get to hear Tomomi's side of events pretty soon but what are your guys' theories so far? What do you think Tomomi's story is? I hope you guys liked this! Stay warm out there!**

 **I wuv you guys! Happy Holidays! _Mwah_ ~**

 _-Nanami_


	21. 二十一 (Twenty-One)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat "**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"Nekobaa..." Itachi eventually said, slowly and cautiously. "I do not understand. You had asked if I was aware of Hotaru-san's situation before telling me this story, but I do not understand the connection between them." His eyes glanced toward the the black-furred cat. "Are you saying... Hotaru-san, _possessed_ Hisao?"

The old woman took another long inhale of her pipe, slowly exhaling the smoke and watching rise up before disappearing.

"In sorts, she did. Ho-chan is not a normal cat, though I assume you've already guessed that by now. Her ' _situation_ ', as you called it, is a difficult one to explain so let me do it the best way I know how to. By telling you what I know. This story I'm telling you, Itachi-chan, is of the first time Ho-chan had stepped into our world."

" _Our world_?" he whispered, barely able to believe his own words. That would mean...

Itachi didn't full know what that would mean actually. His active mind was supplied with so many new questions that it was nearly overwhelming. Though, without a doubt there was a sort of knotting in his stomach when he heard these words. One that had him feeling restless and resisting the urge to squirm around where he was seated. It was _excitement_ he was feeling. Like finally uncovering the answers to a mystery!

He leaned forward over the table unconsiously, his excitement getting the better of his mannerisms. "What happened to Tomomi after that? How did she turn from a man into a cat? Is she an Obake? Or even a Bakeneko?"

Nekobaa laughed at that.

 _Laughed_.

Itachi's excitement deflated, he sat back on his heels as his shoulders slumped despontantly. He didn't know what he said that was so funny...

"Ho-ho! Oh, Itachi-chan, you sure crack me up! There's no such thing as a _Bakeneko_! And Ho-chan is certainly no _shapeshifter_!" she said between her cackling. Itachi's eyes darted over to the small bed in the alcove of the room and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the still-sleeping forms of Hotaru-san and Nekobaa's grandaughter. He still didn't know what was so funny. Nekobaa's shoulders were still trembling with laughter as she spoke again, "Though I don't blame you for thinking that, as she is now I can see how you came to that guess. But, no. She's not a shapeshifter. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time she's ever been a cat before!"

Itachi still did not understand. And to the young prodigy, it was terrible frustrating to not be able to understand something.

Nekobaa's chortles died down and she tapped her pipe, emptying it of the ashes. "Well, I suppose the best way to put it is... to call Ho-chan... a _Traveler_ , of sorts."

"A traveler?" he repeated, eyebrows knitting together as he strained to understand.

Nekobaa nodded to herself, "Yes, that's the best way to say it. Ho-chan had never explained it fully by any means but she had once told a very wrathful Kiyoshi that her lover, Hisao, was quite dead and his spirit was gone. And she was just a wandering soul that had ended up filling the space he left behind not by any choice of her own. Ho-chan had been young then, still trying to figure out what was happening herself when she unfortunately met a grief-sticken and equally bull-headed young woman who would not accept any sort of condolence Ho-chan could give."

"What do you mean that it was not _her choice_? Where does she travel? What _is_ Tomomi?" Itachi asked insistently.

Nekobaa sighed, refilling her pipe with dried herbs. "Hotaru is a traveling soul, she ends up in a body— _not_ one that she chooses, and then lives out the rest of that life. Whether it's a short life as a woman or man or a long life as a dog or bird! When that body dies again she moves on to the next one. She has no choice in _where_ she goes or _what_ she even ends up as. When she opened her eyes as Hisao that was the first time she had been brought into our world. Where she came from before or even where she goes when she's not here, I don't know."

Itachi was quiet, his mind was spinning with what Nekobaa had told him and what it meant to him now that he knows. Tomomi was not a normal cat, that he had already knew. But to be a ' _traveling spirit_ '? Wandering from body to body for what had to be _decades_ now? Living countless lifetimes in different places?

How lonely must that be...

The old woman cracked a small smile at the contemplative boy, "You know... Hotaru isn't _actually_ her name, right? For as long as I've known her, she's never said her what her true name is." Then she scowled and muttered, "...the crotchety, old shrew."

She hadn't?

Itachi felt small smile of his own curl his lips.

"...Nekobaa? How do you know all of this?" he asked quietly, eyes resting on the cold tea in his hands.

"Because of Hisao." she said. Itachi frowned in confusion but held his tongue, waiting for her to explain. "Though his spirit passed, his body and all it's weakness remained. And as such Hotaru inheirited his weak consitustion along with his near-sightedness among many of the other things that kept him from becoming a shinobi with his clansmen. Though she realized her love was gone, Kiyoshi felt the need to care after his body and the spirit now residing inside. She was cold and bitter towards Hotaru for many, many years. And Ho-chan certainly didn't makes things easy! Even back then she hardly had any patience for humans. They fought and bickered for years, even after they moved from that backwards coastal town to a small Senju compound on the outskirts of the newly established Hidden VIllage in the Leaves."

On the outskirts of the Village? Could it be the same ruins where she stays now? He knew that those were once Senju housing. Itachi wondered if the Feline was really so sentimental? It was unexpected, like most of the things he's heard today.

"If they really disliked each other so much, then why did Kiyoshi-san stay? And why did Tomomi not drive her away?" he asked. She certainly has tried on many occasions with _him_.

"I can't speak for Ho-chan, but as for Kiyoshi... even though he was dead, a small part of her felt as if she was keeping Hisao alive. So, they lived together for the years until Hisao's body had given out again and Hotaru passed on."

Itachi felt his throat tighten slightly thinking about Tomomi's life. _Lives_. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

Nekobaa grinned, confusing Itachi for the umpteenth time that day. "It just about scared the hell out of Kiyoshi when a surly little red fox with yellow-green eyes had shown up on her doorstep some years later."

"She... came back?"

"Not just once either. That era was still deeply rooted with warring clans, death was a common affliction back then. Over the decades Ho-chan would come back to stay with Kiyoshi and try to live in her _peace_ and _solitude_." Nekobaa said Tomomi's favorite words with a mocking tilt to her voice.

Itachi pressed his lips firmly together even though he found that a _little_ amusing. That reminded Itachi of a question that has been burning in his mind for the longest time now. "Nekobaa, why _does_ Tomomi dislike people and... society in general? Do you know?"

Nekobaa opened her mouth to speak—

"It's because I find that humans are _loud_ and _disruptive_ , little weasel. _Particularly_ when they interupt my sleep." answered a dry voice, alarming Itachi by her suddeness.

He swallowed thickly as he turned to meet a pair of lime-green eyes pinning him with a glare. The Feline stifled a yawn as she rose up from the bedding.

"Now, what was it you two were talking about?"

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: So, I just learned what exactly a Bakeneko is and was quiet disturbed to find how many similarities it has to Tomomi. Wasn't intentional at all. Just thought I'd mention that.** _ **Other**_ **than that, what do you guys think?! This was it! This was Tomomi's story! Or, as much as Nekobaa knows. I promise we'll get it straight from the cat's mouth eventually. I hope this made it as clear as possible for everyone. If not then feel free to message me and I'll be happy to explain further!**

 **For now, thank you so much for everyone that shared their theories and thoughts about Tomomi's origin. I really loved reading them!**

 **I love you, guys! 'Till the next time!**

 _-Nanami_


	22. 二十二 (Twenty-Two)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"Well...?" the Feline drawled expectantly, narrowing her lime-green eyes at the pair. "What is it are you two speaking in such hushed tones about?"

Itachi pressed his lips together tightly, feeling as if he'd been caught doing something forbidden. Which, he supposed he was. He knew how reluctant Tomomi had been about speaking of her past when he had asked previously. Now, he didn't know how she would react to him knowing about her... lives.

(It still made his gut turn uncomfortably at the thought of living though so many lives only to move on to another again and again.)

The Uchiha tentatively opened his mouth to begin explaining, but was interrupted by an outburst by Nekobaa. "Hahahaa! I was just reminded of the time you met your little suitor, Ho-chan!" Itachi's arched an eyebrow as Tomomi's ears shot up, her body stiffening. "Remember how you—"

"Is it not past time to _leave_ , little weasel? I do believe the Hag must be done with you by now." the Feline intervened pointedly, nearly hissing as she spoke. She rose to her feet and Itachi mirrored her, standing up from the kotaku. "The other child soldiers must be impatient to depart, especially the Other Male. He must be having a _fit_ around this time."

Her body was tense and her tail swung above her head in an agitated manner as she made her way towards the door, Itachi moved to follow her with a neutral expression. Inwardly though, the boy felt a tension inside his chest ease at her demand, making him feel lighter.

She wished to return with him.

It... made him feel happy.

Even after hearing the tale of Hisao and Kiyoshi, Itachi could not suppress the intense curiosity towards the subject that caused Tomomi to have such an unusual reaction. Still, he kept any questions to himself as he followed behind the Feline. Nekobaa led them from the apartment to rejoin the rest of Team 2 in the store, Itachi immediately took notice of how Tenma-kun looked ready to shout. It appeared that Tomomi's assumptions had proven correct.

"Are we finally done here? It reeks like cat litter!" Tenma-kun demanded boisterously, despite Shinko-san's attempts to placate him. Minazuki-sensei cuffed his student on the ear and scolded him for speaking that way in front of the client. Nekobaa ignored the scene and walked behind the wooden counter, retrieving a package from under it and giving it to the jōnin. Payment for the mission, Itachi surmised.

With it's mission accomplished, Team 2 made to depart and return to Konoha. But before they reached the door, Tomomi had paused in her tracks, turning her head slightly to look back at the old woman. Itachi halted as well, following her line of sight. He saw how Nekobaa was watching them with keen eyes. At length, Tomomi spoke. Itachi concealed his surprise when he heard her usually harsh tone, softened with emotion.

"This... is goodbye, Kiyo."

Kiyo?

Kiyo— _shi_?

Kiyoshi is—

Nekobaa was actually—

Itachi's brain stuttered to a standstill, finally giving up trying to make sense of things for the day. It was just too much to process. When he was home again, he would attempt to reconcile all the new information he was given. In the meantime he mutely watched as Nekobaa gave the Feline a mournful smile. The old woman nodded, speaking around her smoking pipe. "Yeah, I'd guessed as much."

Tomomi scoffed, shaking her head. "Yet you still insist on ingesting that poison! How it is possible that you've lived _this_ long is beyond me..." she muttered disdainfully.

"Are you jealous of my youthful complexion, Ho-chan? I won't tell you, it's my personal secret~! Besides..." Nekobaa cackled suddenly, grinning now. "I've got a bet to win!"

Tomomi rolled her eyes, turning back and gently alarming Itachi as she leapt up and wrapped herself around his neck again. The unfamiliar warmth on his shoulders was not exactly an unwelcome sensation. "At least _try_ to live long enough to raise that new spawn of yours. _Properly_ , this time, Hag. Maybe you'll actually accomplish something with your life." Tomomi drawled, her snark returning.

"Hahaha, we'll see! Tamaki-chan might just be better off without me to screw her up!" Nekobaa's smile softened then, her dark brown eyes meeting Tomomi's bright green ones. "...goodbye, Hotaru."

The Feline didn't respond, instead she turned her head to look into a pair of onyx orbs that were gazing after her in curiosity. "Are you intent on loitering all day, little weasel, or will we be leaving at some point in the near future?"

Itachi blinked his large dark eyes at her, quickly nodding his head in agreement and saying his own farewell to Nekobaa.

Together, they returned home.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Yaay! It's back! Welp, all I can say is that I lost my muse there for a while. I revealed Tomomi's past and then it kinda… poofed away. I'm glad I was able to get back to this, this story is important to me. Hope you guys didn't mind the wait too much! Thank you for being so patient with me!**

 **I wuv you all! See you next time!**

 _-Nanami_


	23. 二十三 (Twenty-Three)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

He was taking _liberties_ , she thought with dread as he watched him from her stone perch. Here, on a perfectly temperate and clear day, the little weasel had intruded on her domain on his day off and instead of spending the time quietly reading or asking exasperatingly philosophical questions about Life and the meaning of it, he had surprisingly chosen to spend the time swinging around a Bokken in the old ruins.

The Feline had not been aware that the little weasel had taken up swordsmanship before then.

Though she had much rather have been asleep, she had begrudgingly observed the young Uchiha's fluid movements as he flowed through the kata, no doubt a style learned from one of those many scrolls he buries his nose in. He had been silent as he concentrated on his movements, occasionally stopping to reference a book that he'd brought with him. Itachi's strikes were sure and quick, but with a critical eye, the Feline noted the distance between his feet was too large. Too easily overpowered. She considered holding her tongue, not having any desire to involve herself in the matters of the young killer. Then he shifted his stance, feet still awkwardly parted and she could easily see a foe sweeping forward and stealing the little weasel's footing from under him...

A mistake like that could spell an early death for the child soldier.

"Your stance is amateurish." she announced. He turned his curious eyes towards her and she ignored how he looked very much like a young child then. She feinted utter disinterest as she spoke in a bored drawl. "Keep your feet parallel with your shoulders and your hips forward. You'll have a stronger stance for offence and defense."

He stored the Bokken in the sheath on his back and stepped closer to where she lay, tilting his head to look up at her with bright onyx eyes. "You know Kenjutsu, Tomomi-san? I mean... did you know a swordsman?"

The Feline seriously considered for a moment whether or not to explain further, but eagerness that he tried to suppress was almost too much for her to bear.

"I know it might come as a _shock_ to you, little weasel, but I _have_ associated with other human beings before you decided to insert yourself into my current existence." she sighed, resting her head on her overlapping paws.

 _'This existence.'_ she would say.

 _'In this short life.'_ she would mutter under her breath.

Itachi paused, a question on the tip of his tongue, noticing how different a meaning her off-handed words held now. Now that he knew the truth of Tomomi's life. _Lives_. A secret meaning. Or, perhaps an honest one? She had never lied to him to the extent of his knowledge. So what did that mean? If he asked, would she tell him? It was more often now that he wondered just how many lives has she lived? What kind of things she had seen during them?

He wanted to ask...

Instead, he drew his Bokken again and spaced his feet accordingly, glancing from under his dark fringe up to the black-furred cat. "Like so, Tomomi-san?"

One lime-green eye cracked open to peer down at the boy, scrutinizing his form.

"...acceptable." she muttered and he felt a small swell of pride at the approval. To his surprise, Tomomi continued to speak. Instructing him. "Also, you look like a fool when you attempt to thrust. You're over-extending yourself, leaving an opening at your side. You are a tiny person for the time being so you must compensate for the height difference you will encounter when in battle. _Also_ —"

Itachi nodded dutifully, a nearly invisible smile on his lips as he listened raptly. Wishing he could ask how it is she knew so much about Kenjutsu. Did she really learn from another swordsman, or had she been on one herself in a past life? Itachi so wished he could ask and be sure she would answer him. As it was, he was satisfied to etch each word of advice she gave to him into his memory, so he could recall every small detail of that spring day for years to come.

He would soon learn to wield a sword with deadly proficiency.

He also would one day wish he'd had never held one in his hands.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Another short chapter! A little showing of Itachi learning to use a sword and a peek at Tomomi's knowledge. She knows how to use a sword! I wonder where** **—or _who_ , she learned it from? So many possibilities but don't worry, I promise to have more little easter egg-type hints towards her past lives. **

**Okay, so I have a question for you guys! What kind of things do you want to see more of? Itachi/Tomomi fluff? What's happening to Itachi in the Village and with the Clan? Shisui? Itachi and Shisui? Baebae Sasuke?! Tomomi and moar babies!? I want to know before the plot starts kicking along and Itachi gets too old and tragedy starts derailing the fluff! (T_T) Lemme know before it's too late!**

 **Love you, guys! Have a wonderful day!**

 _-Nanami_


	24. 二十四 (Twenty-Four)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language and mentions of blood.**

* * *

 _The sun beat down unforgivingly upon their backs and heads. Not even the gentle sea breeze that swept across the bow gave any reprieve from the heat. All eyes were fixed on the center of the deck, waiting in tense anticipation to see what would transpire in the next moments that followed._

 _A woman was there, kneeling and bound before the imposing figure of their Captain. Her distinct black duster in tatters on her shoulders was the only thing to identify her besides the head of heavy ebony curls that fell over her face and down her back._

 _"...well? Don't keep us in suspense, Ed." the Woman drawled, the lack of water from her brief imprisonment made her voice scratch against her throat uncomfortably. "Is he going to live or not?"_

 _"He'll live." the looming figure above her confirmed lowly. Her lips twisted into a scowl. "You never could shoot for shit, Black."_

 _"Well... damn."_

 _She knew she should've just fucked off to some little island and just waited out the clock there, but nooo... she just HAD to try and involve herself further than she already had. The Woman blames the nagging little voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like that Idiot Captain._

 _"Why the fuck are you here, Black?" he demanded._

 _"He has no idea I'm here or what my intentions were... in case you were wondering." she sniffed, blatantly dodging the question._

 _"You expect me to believe that he just let you walk off that ship?! Don't try and bullshit me, Black! Not after what you did..."_

 _The Woman exhaled, her harsh breath jostling her curls, quite annoyed by the line of questioning. Why couldn't he just get this over with already?_

 _She answered curtly, "Wasn't his choice, Ed. I made my terms clear in the beginning that I'd be leaving when I decided it'd happen. Not him. It was always up to me."_

 _The only sounds that followed her statement were the calls of the gulls above their heads and the waves lapping against the hull of the ship. It was a few long minutes before the Captain before her spoke up again._

 _"You know... I've been sitting here for the last couple days trying to rack my brain for an answer as to why the hell you would do this, Black." he told the bound Woman, looking down at her with hard eyes. "Murder was never your trade."_

 _He was right, she acknowledged that. It was only further evidenced by how fucking shitty she was at it considering she didn't even kill the guy she'd meant to._

 _"You had to know this is where we'd be in the end."_

 _"Yeah. I knew." she sighed._

 _"Then, why?"_

 _"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."_

 _"Try..." he demanded lowly. She sighed, wondering what the point of it was? Why couldn't he just get this over with so they could both be on their ways? It would be a better use of both their time. Still... she heard that annoying voice nag in the back of her mind again._

 _Fuck it, she decided, it's not like she'll be around for much longer to see what happens next._

 _"I once heard a story a long, long time ago and if you've got any luck in this world, Ed, you'll never know it."_

 _"And who the fuck told you this story that would drive you to point your blunderbuss at my subordinate's face and blow him to hell...?" he asked darkly, his voice coming out in a low gravel. The very deck under her knees trembled from the weight of the rage that he was keeping a very tight hold on._

 _"My sister." she confessed._

 _Memories of a small girl with mousy brown hair flashed through her mind. All gap-toothed grins and princess outfits._

 _Older now, teenaged anger, dark makeup and bad haircuts. Talks that always turned into shouting matches._

 _A young woman at last, grown and matured. Smiling as the Woman made the effort to learn the things she liked, listening to her go on about countless stories and worlds from imagination._

 _She banished the faded memories from her mind as the Captain's demeanor shifted._

 _"...you have family, Black?" he asked quietly._

 _"I used to." the Woman confirmed, then added for accuracy; "In another life."_

 _"I see..." he muttered, his voice a low rumble coming up from the depths of his chest._

 _The Woman nearly laughed._

 _She really doubts that he does._

 _Sweat beaded on her brow and mixed in with the dried blood on her face. She was tired of all this waiting, surely there were more important things to get to besides standing around on this damned deck while he battles internally._

 _"I won't be fighting you, Ed." the Woman declared. "Put this to rest as it is or I'll just come back to finish what I started... and I won't fail the next time."_

 _His rage was back in full force once more, any moment of shared sympathy for the Woman was forgotten._

 _"Do you have any messages to leave behind, to Roger or Silvers?" he asked, thinking of the few acquaintances the Woman before him actually kept. "...that damned Marine?"_

 _She scoffed, even now he was being as honorable as he could in their situation. Even after she just attempted to murder one of his beloved 'Sons.' That was probably one of the two reasons she acted so foolishly and wound up in this position. The other reason being owed to the King of Fools himself, the one that somehow managed to get her on his damned ship with him._ _If she was being honest with herself, she was still trying to figure out how the hell he did it._

 _Guess she'll never know now._

 _"That Idiot Captain and I already had our say's and I wasn't in the mood to listen to Rayleigh's attempts to talk me out of my mind. As for the last one..."_

 _Her lips quirked up into a dry smile as memories of a loud and boisterous laugh rang in her ears. If she closed her eyes she could still see that grin splitting his face even as she sailed farther away and out of his reach._

 _"I expect he'll understand. Monkey-boy never was one for goodbyes."_

 _With a thud against the deck, he readied his Bisento in his hand. His face drawn down with grim lines under that ridiculous moustache. In all the years the Woman has known him she doesn't think she's ever seen him look so unsatisfied before, not even after that skirmish in Santa Marisol. She had laughed quite heartily when Monkey-boy blundered into their fight with all his uniformed comrades and botched the latest duel between the Captains._

 _A smile curled her blood red lips. She liked that memory, she hopes that she might keep that one when she moves on._

 _"Mary of the Black, do you have any last words?"_

 _She growled under her breath, annoyed with the fact that ridiculous moniker would be the last thing she hears in this life. Yellow-green eyes flashed, looking up from under the curtain of ebony curls at the imposing figure of the feared Edward Newgate standing over her._

 _"That is not my name." she spat, just as she always did. He waited a moment longer for her to speak her last, that was the only thing he could grant her now._

 _The Woman heaved a long-suffering sigh, quite fed-up with all this 'honor' crap these foolish men were always on about. Cutthroats always made this process easier for her. She half-way hoped she ended up surrounded by ruthless mercs the next time so she wouldn't have to stick around so damn long._

 _Last words? Might as well give him that._

 _"Try not to fuck up the world too much while I'm gone, eh. All things considered, this life wasn't too bad."_

 _He narrowed his eyes at her, raising his weapon, the shadow of it sweeping over her face._

 _The Woman looked past him, seeing the blue skies and listening to the call of the ocean around them._

 _He brought it down and she saw the blade glint against the sunlight as it arced cleanly through the air._

 _She didn't even feel it drive into—_

"Tomomi-san?" a young voice called out.

The Feline opened her eyes, blinking away the heaviness of sleep within them still to focus on the face of the little weasel seated on the ground before her. A dusty tome in his hands and more books stacked neatly to his side.

Itachi was gazing down at her with those large, endlessly inquisitive eyes of his.

With a glance upwards she could tell it was midday still, the sunlight was streaming down through the boughs above their heads and the sounds of the forest around them were still rich with life. She reached out her limbs in a stretch, letting out a large yawn.

"Hm...? What have you woken me for now, little weasel? Have you questions about your mortality again?"

He shook his head, watching her carefully. "No. Nothing like that. It's just... it seemed like you were having a bad dream just now."

"Oh? Is that so...?" she hummed, feeling the relaxing pop of her spine before curling back up comfortably, resting her head on her crossed paws as she looked at the child.

He hesitated a moment before speaking up. "Can I ask what you were dreaming about just now?"

Lime-green eyes stared at him for long enough for him to start to feel like he'd overstepped, causing him to break his gaze from hers.

"Old things, little weasel. Of which are better off not spoken of." she dismissed.

Though not satisfied with her aloof answer, he accepted it nonetheless and went back to studying the book his Otou-sama had given him on tactics and historical warfare. The Feline closed her eyes again and drifted once more.

(Distantly, she could still hear the sway of the ocean knocking against the ship's hull. The sounds of Roger's and Rayleigh's laughter filling the galley. She could taste the salty spray of seawater on her tongue.)

No cutthroats this time, but she reckons she won't have to stay here for much longer.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this came out of nowhere. I had planned something else for the next chapter but somehow it turned into a flashback? I don't know. I've been experimenting with One Piece ideas a lot recently and this... just turned out this way. Besides that, Thank you guys so much for all your wonderful answers to my questions! I definitely want more baby fluffiness! Hope you guys liked the chapter~!**

 **Love you guys!**

 _-Nanami_


	25. 二十五 (Twenty-Five)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

She had been rudely awoken one night by the sounds of another stumbling around her domain.

A bright yellow-green gaze narrowed at the small shadow in the dark of the forest, the meager light of the moon having been concealed under the oncoming stormfront. The rainy season of the Land of Fire had begun only the week before and there have been an onset of light showers to refresh the land before the summer came.

"And just _what_ do you think you are doing so late into the night?" she asked curtly, stepping out from the shelter of a ruined building.

Itachi halted in his steps, turning toward the sound of the Feline's voice.

"Apologies, Tomomi-san. I was out for a walk and became lost in thought. I did not realize that I had walked so far." he explained quietly, dipping his head in pardon.

Reflective irises stared at him evenly through the dark.

She was unimpressed.

"Yes, you did." she accused knowingly.

He did not say anything to contradict her, making a mental note to ask Shisui to help him learn to lie better.

The Feline let out a long-suffering sigh, deftly stepping down the broken steps of the house before beginning to walk down an old stone footpath that had been long overtaken by nature. One she used to walk many lifetimes before this and knew by heart. She nodded her head only the slightest degree to signal him to follow, he did so with surprise but was not about to question it.

Itachi was mindful as he trailed behind Tomomi, as it was still quite dark although some of the cloud cover had moved enough to allow a dim pale light to fall over the forest. He followed her for 63 meters through the abandoned compound before she stopped in front of appeared to be an old pond. A koi pond, he recognized, having seen one a very similar design in Senju park many times before. He briefly reviewed it, finding that is surface was covered in a green scum and became fairly certain that there were no living fish residing in it's murky waters.

Sitting at the edge of the long-neglected pond, Tomomi curled her long tail around her paws and looked up at the young Uchiha standing beside her.

"So what is it that has you skulking around the outskirts of the Village so late into the night, little weasel?"

He was quiet for a moment, deeply considering of his words, as was his nature.

Hesitantly, he spoke.

"I... attended a Clan meeting for the first time tonight."

Tomomi watched him quietly for a moment.

"... _And_?" she prodded with annoyance when he did not elaborate on how it resulted in him wandering out in the dead of night to wake her from her sleep.

His brow furrowed as a troubled look finally surfaced on his young face. Itachi took a seat beside the Feline and turned his gaze towards the water's reflection.

"I had not known before that so many of my clansmen had been... so _discontented_." he confessed quietly.

Understanding dawned on her then. The little weasel had witnessed his Clan's unfiltered resentment towards the Village for the first time. In her past excursions to the Uchiha District, she had been privy to overhearing the hushed words of animosity spoken when they thought they were by themselves. Words that she had heard in lifetimes past, the kind that have sparked fires that consumed everything in their paths. Fires that claimed more souls than they ever saved.

"Tomomi-san," Itachi said, looking at her with large black eyes that were beginning to dim. "What drives people to seek out conflict?"

The Feline sighed then, feeling very, _very_ old. She laid down beside the boy, her soft black fur brushing up against his fingers.

"I do not know, little weasel." she said, closing her lime-green eyes. "I sometimes wonder if I will ever find the answer to that very question myself."

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Ack! It's been so long and I've only come back with THIS?! Poor Itachibi's starting to grow up! Nooo! Ah, but I _did_ warn that this is a tragedy! It's not going to happen immediately but you should prepare your hearts! It _is_ coming! And don't worry, I will be crying right along with you! ...or you can console me as I sob and you nod knowingly, having better prepared your heart. **

**I wuv yew guys! Thanks for reading this!**

 _-Nanami_


	26. 二十六 (Twenty-Six)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

It happened rather quickly.

One moment the Feline had been sprawled out across her favored sunbathing spot and the very next, she had been picked up into someone's arms and the scenery blurred before her and she was overwhelmed with the intense desire to _hurl_. She was dropped onto all fours on a soft, lightly colored blanket and stumbled uneasily, her center of gravity having been skewed by the excessively high-speed travel.

She blinked a few times to clear her vision before a high-collar shirt-wearing _Uchiha_ appeared.

What. The. _Fuck_.

Her lips pulled up to reveal a sharp-toothed snarl and young Shisui had looked mildly apologetic for his actions with his dimpled grin. Before she had any chance to demand that he explain what had transpired that would cause him _to lose his goddamned mind_ , the young prodigy had clasped his hands together and vomited a series of words at her in rapid succession.

" _SorryabouthisTomomi,butIjustgotaskedtodoaveryimportantfavorbymycomradewhenIwassupposedtobewatchingSasukeforAuntMikotoandIreallyhavetogobutI'llberightback,socanyouwatchSasukeforalittlewhilesoItachiwon'tkillmeforleavinghisbabybrotheralone?Thankyousomuch!Byeee_ —"

Then he had vanished, leaving her staring at the spot he had previously been occupying. Her mind worked silently for a moment as she tried to decipher what the hell it was he just said.

"Gaa-badadaaa! Oooooohh!" cooed a young voice from behind her.

The Feline _stilled_.

Yes, the next time she laid eyes on Young Shisui she would be sure to make her displeasure _known_.

Slowly she turned around to see the youngest of the Uchiha spawn on his back, dressed in a miniature high-collared shirt with tiny leggings, looking up at her with large, shiny coal-black eyes. So small and less wrinkly than she had last seen him, with more fluffy black hair, his face had significantly rounded with baby fat she noted.

Little Sasuke had grown into quite a chubby baby, it seemed.

He cooed again, excited by the appearance of the fluffy creature. She watched as little Sasuke rolled onto his stomach with great effort and began attempting to crawl across the blanket towards her with his underdeveloped muscles. Slowly, but surely he had made the journey across the play blanket and as he reached for her the Feline had simply lifted her paw and pushed the child over to roll onto his back again.

She had been, as typical, unimpressed as she stared down at him with her bright green eyes. Preemptively moving her tail from his little arm's reach.

Not one to be deterred, Sasuke lifted his pudgy hands up towards her with his mouth stretched in a gummy smile as he looked up at the Feline. "To-Mo!" he squealed, squirming around on his back. " _To-Mo! To-Mo! To-Mo_!"

She had been momentarily stunned.

The moment quickly passed and the Feline narrowed her eyes at the youngest Uchiha spawn. He cooed up at her stubbornly and she placed her paw upon the infant's head, gently pushing him away so that he could not get a good grip on her fur.

"This will be your _only warning_..." she said gravely, looking down upon the child. "Do not cause me trouble as your brother does, little one."

Sasuke merely blinked those large, painfully _bright_ eyes at her.

Then he giggled.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Just a quick little chapter of fluff and love for all of you. I needed one and this was the result, a little Shisui and a little Sasuke.**

 **Love you guys, hope you're having a good day.**

 _-Nanami_


	27. 二十七 (Twenty-Seven)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

Itachi had arrived home to a sight that he, for all his lauded intelligence and comprehensive training, could not have ever predicted.

Tomomi was in his house. This, in itself was odd and was enough to cause him to freeze mid-step halfway though the door arch to stare in confusion. To further his bemusement, it seemed she had gotten caught in a blanket with young Sasuke sitting atop her. He had his round face pressed against her soft fur and giggled every time her long tail swept by and brushed against him.

Lime-green eyes had flicked over to Itachi as soon as he entered the room. Immediately, a paw had shot out from beneath the blankets, poised above the oblivious infant with claws extended menacingly.

It had taken less than a heartbeat before Itachi had swooped Sasuke into his arms and released Tomomi from the confines of the blanket. Sasuke had cried happily upon recognizing the gentle embrace of his older brother and Tomomi had fled to the opposite side of the room. Itachi began speaking uncertainly, brow furrowed. "Tomomi-san, I—"

"Save it, little weasel." the Feline interrupted, a dark aura rolling off her as she began to mat down the fur youngest Uchiha spawn had disrupted with his playing. "You are not the one responsible for my displeasure. _This_ time."

"To-Mo!" Sasuke squealed, wriggling in his elder brother's arm in attempt to return playing with the harried Feline. Tomomi edged farther away, pressing herself against a wall, intent on scaling it if needed be to escape the Devil Child's grasp. Itachi's gaze had snapped to Sasuke in shock, dark eyes going round.

"Was that...?" his voice trailed off as he stared at the giddy infant who turned up at him with a gummy smile.

"To- _Mooooe_!" Sasuke cried again in excitement.

Then, Itachi's eyes had _shone_ , so very brightly and filled with pride and joy that was reserved especially for his younger brother.

'Tomo.'

 _'Friend.'_

There was no better first word Itachi could've wished to hear. He smiled gently, cuddling Sasuke closer to his chest to which the infant greedily took the affection.

Then Shisui had made the grave mistake of returning.

"Yo! Itachi! Y-You're back early, I just— _SHIT_! TOMOMI, I SAID I WAS— _NOT THE FACE_ —"

Itachi had not taken his attention away from the infant in his arms, choicely ignoring how Shisui stumbled backwards with a howling black furry ball of indignant fury clawing at his face. Sasuke looked back up at him and cooed, drool spilling all over the front of his shirt as he reached up pudgy hands and motioned to grab at something.

"That's right, Sasuke..." the Uchiha heir whispered to his younger brother, who he allowed to clasped onto one of his fingers with a tiny fist. Itachi's heart swelled in his chest at the cuteness of it. "...she is our friend."

"Itachiiii!" Shisui wailed dramatically, brandishing a new cut across his cheek and many more littering his hands and forearms. Even now, she was still trying to go for his neck. " _HELP ME ALREADY_!"

Itachi had already turned his back to his friend and was headed for the kitchen, intent on getting the baby formula ready. Sasuke had most likely gained an appetite from all the excitement today.

" _ITACHI_!?" poor Shisui had tried again, followed by a few choice curse words from Tomomi as she made her displeasure known.

In the kitchen, Itachi held up the green, foul-smelling mixture and scrunched his nose at it. Everything about it had affronted his senses. Sasuke also made a face of distaste, one that had made the older Uchiha simply _melt_.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Ahhh! It's been so long guys! Sorry 'bout that. Apparently I'd been blocked until I finished the latest chapter of my other story. But here's another shot of cuteness for you guy, one that was inspired by all of you that wanted to see what happened next on Tomomi's babysitting adventure. I hope you liked it! Poor Shisui didn't, but he was asking for it after involving that surly cat.**

 **Wuv yew~! Until the next time, see ya!**

 _-Nanami_


	28. 二十八 (Twenty-Eight)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

"Tomomi-san, have you ever left the boundaries of Fire Country?" Itachi had asked one day when the sky was clear and the sun shone down brightly through the trees on the old Senju compound.

He'd taken a break in his Kenjutsu training to read a old, worn tome about a traveling merchant's accounts with various people throughout the Elemental Nations. The tale had reminded him of what Nekobaa had told him of Tomomi in some aspects. How she was a _Traveler_. He couldn't help but want to know about some of what she's seen before when he has only seen very little of Fire Country.

In response to his question, the Feline had looked at him boredly. She stretched out across her sun-warmed stone and asked him a question in return. "Have you ever heard the saying: ' _Curiosity killed the Cat_ '?"

He frowned. _Thoughtfully_.

"But, Tomomi-san," he looked up at her with a small, considering tilt of his head. "I am not a cat."

Sometimes, the boy managed to _amaze_ the Feline.

"I am so very impressed, little weasel, you have really outdone yourself this time!" she praised, her voice taking on a tone of approval. Itachi became very wary then as Tomomi looked down at him from her perch, long tail swaying above her head. "You have finally realized that you are a bothersome child that asks vexing questions about pointless subjects. Congratulations are in order."

Itachi relaxed then, after hearing her usual sharp tongue. For a moment he was worried that she might've been feverish. His relief annoyed the Feline, very much so.

"Why are you asking, little weasel," she questioned sourly, adjusting to lay her head on her paws. "What has brought on this interest in my previous whereabouts?"

Itachi's brow smoothed out and he began to look at her so fixedly that it was ridiculous. His eyes never wavered from hers as he spoke, he didn't even blink. "I—"

"Little weasel, if you intend on lying to me then I would ask that you not attempt to do it so _badly_." the Feline sighed, cutting off whatever he was about to say. "It is an embarrassment to watch."

Itachi deflated, his shoulders slumping and looking every bit the emotional flower he was when he was younger. She sighed tersely, so very annoyed with this ridiculously curious child-soldier. She thinks it was a rule of this world that tools were not allowed to think for themselves. Why couldn't he be more like the other mindless drones of the Shinobi system? Maybe then she would be granted her peace and tranquility back.

"Ugh. You will surely be the Death of _me_ —Yes, to answer your inane question, I _have_ been outside the boundaries of this Fire Kingdom." she said, pausing a moment. "...right, _country_. Though I do not know why it is not called kingdom. You have a King, it is simpler to just call it a kingdom."

Predictably, Itachi had looked up at her with surprise that quickly changed into a bright excitement that shone in his eyes.

"Where?" he couldn't help himself but to ask. "What place did you like the best? And what about it?"

She was quiet for a long while, staring at him with her lime-green eyes. Itachi was almost certain that she wasn't going to answer him and go back to ignoring him when she finally spoke up, her voice unusually soft.

"The open sea was fairly tolerable."

 _Then_ she began to ignore him.

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Guys! Another update within a week! Yay! I wanted to thank all of you for reading and taking the time to review! I read and appreciate all of them! You guys inspired me to write up this next chapter so quick! I know that I haven't responded to them yet but that's only because FF was being weird and didn't let me see them until recently!**

 **Also, I realized (two months late) that this fic is over a year old already! Time flew by so quick! And the amount of support this has gotten never ceases to amaze me. It is far more than I had ever anticipated when I began. It really warms my heart and makes be feel _so bad_ when I remember that I'm writing a tragedy. Gahhh! **

**All I can say is, the stars shine brightest in the dark, my loves. Just because this is a tragic tale doesn't mean that there isn't a happy ending involved. It might not be a perfect fairytale ending, but it will be a satisfying one. That is all I can promise to give.**

 **I love you guys! 'Till the next time~!**

 _-Nanami_


	29. 二十九 (Twenty-Nine)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

The date was June 9th.

It has been three years since the Kyuubi attack devastated the Village, and only in recent times has it's heart begun to truly recover. Four years since the late Yondaime Namikaze Minato negotiated the armistice between the nations and brought with it a time of peace for the first time after nearly a decade of war. Within the next month Sasuke would be three summers old, an event that Itachi had been greatly anticipating for the last several weeks by how he would chatter the Feline's ears off.

Children ran along the streets of the Village and openly played out in the surrounding fields in the daylight. Couples laughed and fell in love in the evening. The Shinobi patrolled the borders and safeguarded in the darkness of the night.

 _Time_ , she thought, _always moves so fast_.

No matter what any time-space jumping fool or headstrong deities would try to say, time passes more quickly than any semi-sentient being can truly seem to grasp. It was a pity, that. It was because of that it seemed to her as if no one was able to appreciate the gift a single day could be.

Well, almost no one. There were still a handful of fools out there that managed to make their numbered days worthwhile...

The little weasel sat down before her, seated in a overly formal seiza position with his palms placed on his thighs as he patiently awaited the slumbering Feline to take notice of him. She awoke from her nap at an indulgent pace and only after he had been sitting long enough to lose all feeling in his legs. The Feline arched her back in a stretch, feeling the stress in her muscles release with the motion. The little weasel was watching her intently as she took her time waking up, something she noted quickly. She also took in the ridged set of his shoulders and picture of solemn earnesty his face made up. Her eyes narrowed at the dreadful familiarity of his position.

He was going to ask something _annoying_ , wasn't he?

"Tomomi-san," Itachi began, tone formal and suffocatingly polite. "Today is the ninth of June..."

Lime-green eyes looked over him lazily, a low noise suspiciously resembling a contented _purr_ escaped her as she deigned to acknowledge his presence. She was feeling rather generous from having such a full and undisturbed nap. The fact that the bag on his hip smelt of tuna and cream did nothing to influence her mood. She was not some mere _animal_ to be tempted by food, of course. Her tolerance for the eternally persistent Uchiha spawn stemmed from the fact he hadn't disturbed her sleep and that was it.

"I have... a request to ask of you," he announced, confirming her fears. She let out a terse sigh, slumping against the sun-warmed stone.

He pressed his lips together tightly, fidgeting slightly on his numbed legs. He looked to be having second thoughts, it seemed. The seconds ticked by and the longer he didn't speak what was on his mind the more the Feline became annoyed with him.

"Have you suddenly developed a theory that I can now read minds, little weasel?" the Feline snapped sarcastically, startling him in the wake of the silence before. Her ear flicked in annoyance as she looked down at the boy. "If not, then get on with it. You waste both our time with this dancing around the subject—If you have a request then just _spit it out already_."

His eyes widened, obviously surprised by her outburst. Then his shoulders slumped and it became one of those rare moments when his impeccable manners fell away and he resembled the shy and introverted child that actually he was. With those brightened wide eyes of his, he hesitantly looked up at the black-haired feline from beneath his long fringe.

"...I was wondering if you would tell me another story?" he asked softly. The words nearly being swept up by the chirping of the cicada song the filled the forest. "Like the one you told me when I'd caught that fever."

The Feline was silent as she observed him. Judging him, and carefully choosing her next words as she always did.

She crossed her front paws over one another and raised her head, looking down at the boy.

Itachi swallowed his nerves and met her gaze without wavering.

"A gift, then," she murmured. "For your birthday, little weasel."

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: Here we are again! Finally! Another update! Buuuut, in a surprise twist since you guys are all so amazing: A DOUBLE UPDATE! This one and the next one! I hope you guys enjoy! I'm gonna get over and get it ready now!**

 **Alright, onto the next one which is longer and more satisfying. I hope!**

 _-Nanami_


	30. 三十 (Thirty)

**Naruto Fan Fiction**

 **SI-OC!**

 _(Title)_

 **"** **The Weasel and His Cat** **"**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!**

 **WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.**

* * *

 _A biting rain pelted the Woman's head, flattening ebony locks against her skull as she climbed the rigging to fasten down their dinghy's sole sail in the midst of the raging storm. Tying off the knots, she made it back to the deck just as another large wave rocked the ship and nearly sent her careening over the aft. She caught herself at the last moment on the railing, slamming her head against it in the process._

 _"Fucking HELL!" she cursed, pressing a fist against her throbbing temple. That was going to be a colorful bruise. Yellow-green eyes cut through the rain to glare at the blonde man at the helm. "Dyin' from brain hemorrhaging is NOT a good way to go! Neither is drowning, by the way! Just in case you were gettin' any ideas!"_

 _Lightning clapped in the skies, followed by a bellowing roll of thunder that made her ears ring. Rayleigh looked over his shoulder at her, slicking back loose blond hair from his eyes. "What was that?! I can't hear you over your complaining!"_

" _Just wondering what I did wrong in my past lives to be sentenced to die alongside a couple of damned fools!" she snapped, coming to stop beside the helm and clutching onto the railing with a white-knuckled grip. Rayleigh shook his head at her, steadying himself as he maneuvered the ship away from another large swell._

 _"I still don't understand why someone who's afraid of water would want to set sail! It just doesn't make any sense, Mary!"_

 _"I told yah, that isn't my damn name so don't call me that! And I was KIDNAPPED by that idiot, you bastard! Get it straight!"_

 _"But you always hate it when I call you by Mary-ann_ —" _Rayleigh's head snapped towards her, eyes bulging behind his glasses as he registered the last of her sentence. "Wait, WHAT?!"_

 _"ANNIE!"_

 _From the bow of the boat where he was nearly hanging off, the Idiot Captain howled with sudden laughter. His dark silhouette stood out starkly against the tumultuous skies, black against the flashes of lightning hitting the waters. Hand placed securely on top of his beloved straw hat, he turned towards them with a broad grin on his lips even as rain streamed down his smooth face._

 _"I think I saw something really great!" he bellowed, grin nearly wild as he pointed out towards the water._

 _"Don't curse us with any more seabeasts, Idiot Captain!" she snapped furiously at him, eyes darting towards the endlessly black waves instinctively. "Or next time it'll be your ass tied to the log as the natives slow roast you! And I'll be bringing the fucking sauce!"_

" _Aw, come on Annie! You know you had fun after we got it all sorted out! Besides, they didn't even have you half-cooked by the time we found ya again!" he retorted, unbothered by her acidic words. Only to laugh again when yellow-green eyes flared at him and she aimed a scowl his way._

 _Roger threw his free arm out at his side and gestured to the wild and raging ocean around them, letting the wind and rain soak his clothing and plastered his short black hair to his face. He let his head fall back so that he could shout at the sky that looked as if it would smite him if it thought it had half a chance._

" _Even the weather in the Grand Line wants to fight us every step of the way! I couldn't have asked for anything better! You can't say that you woulda experienced anything as exciting as this back in East Blue!"_

 _"I specifically asked to NOT be involved with exciting things, you stupid man!" the Woman cursed before she began muttering to herself. "Should've just stayed in Lougetown and waited for some pleasant brigands to mug and gut me. I would've been in a different kind of hell, but I'd bet they had a shit-ton less of water there at least... "_

 _The Woman's bitter mumblings were interrupted as the boat rocked violently again. Everyone aboard braced themselves suddenly as a large shadow covered the deck of the small vessel, blotting out what little light they had. A dozen wriggling tentacles following out of the waters soon after the sea monster's appearance, encircling their little ship on every side._

 _Rayleigh spat a curse, hurriedly turning the wheel to avoid a head-on collision._

 _Roger shouted with glee, climbing up onto the bow to get as close as he could without going for a swim._

 _The Woman could only stare slack-jawed as something ripped straight out of a Lovecraftian horror rose out from the ocean_ —

Tomomi paused during her tale, taking a moment to eat the small cup of cream placed in front of her. Itachi fidgeted in his seat. Since the beginning of the tale, he had given up propriety in trade for settling himself upon the small bed he had maintained for her through the years, though she had yet to lay upon it even once. The Feline took an indulgent time nibbling on one of his Okaa-san's tuna rolls and his impatience got the better of him for once.

"What happened next, Tomomi-san?" the little weasel asked eagerly, leaning towards her in his excitement. Lime-green eyes narrowed at him briefly before she looked off into the distance, glaring at some unseen thing.

"What do you _think_ happened?" she asked rhetorically. "Roger, the damned fool, _punched it square in it's face._ "

— _"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND!?" the Woman screeched, dashing across the wet deck towards the cabin. The monster she was certain was a sort of Kraken submerged back under the surface of the water after Roger's blow, taking it's slimy tentacles with it. But if she knew anything about unspeakable horrors, it was that they didn't die so easily._

 _She slipped once on the slick deck and landed harshly on her hip before clambering back up to where she'd stowed her Blunderbuss when the rain started up. Wet powder be damned. She wasn't going to face any damned sea monsters without a weapon in hand again, even if it's only able to be used as a blunt object. The thing with cockatrice they encountered at Waterfowl island the other week was a shit-show and a half that nearly ended up with her spit-roasted over a fire after the natives found out Roger had killed and eaten their so-called 'God'. She ended up with second-degree burns that were still healing in places!_

 _Thinking better of it, she strapped on a wooden sword to her lower back as well. There was no such thing as over-preparation when you travel with idiots as she was learning. Even if all you have left is a sturdy stick._

 _Lord. This man was going to be the Death of her. The most excruciatingly painful one yet, she was sure. She really hated this world. It was like a free-roaming insane asylum where the crazy was passed around like Herpes. Don't even get her started on how these people looked._

 _"What?" Roger asked obliviously, a grin on his face and in his voice. He looked way too damn pleased with himself for her liking as she stepped back out, weapons at the ready. "He wanted a fight, so I gave him one! Oi, Ray! Where are we again?"_

 _"Hell if I know," Rayleigh called out as he threw back his flask in hopes of nursing his sudden headache. His wrist was jerked down suddenly as the Woman looked at the Log Pose strapped to it. He made a noise of protest as she dragged him back into the cabin where she laid out the sea charts, ducking his head down when the muzzle of her blunderbuss came sweeping by as she tried to read their position._

 _"Charts say we're a day's travel from some place called: Dead Star Island, but we could have traveled closer in that storm!" the Woman answered out the door, turning back to scowl down at the maps. "Fuckin' great... Gotta love it when the names of the islands have 'Dead' in it. Probably home to more cannibals. It's fucking wonderful..."_

 _Rayleigh huffed in amusement at her sour muttering as he gingerly tipped her blunderbuss to the other side, pointing it's muzzle away from his face. It would be just his luck that the one time she actually hits something with that hand-cannon, it'd be aimed at his face. He left her glaring at the sea charts and went back to the helm as the rain finally began to let up, the clouds parting only slightly to reveal traces of dusky orange skies. The blonde leaned forward on the wheel as the waters finally calmed down for the first time in hours, enjoying the relaxing moment._

 _Then a load of buckshot flew by his ear._

 _Rayleigh ducked to the floor with the intent of snapping at Mary-anne and Roger fell off the rigging he was climbing to crash into the deck, but both snapped to attention as a very feminine shriek filled the air. Both men turned towards the sound to see their sole female crewmate being dragged kicking and cursing by a long slimy pale tentacle, whacking it with her wooden sword as she was lifted high into the air by the leg. They scrambled to stand and ran over to the side where she was dangling, mouths gaping._

 _"MOTHERFUUUCCKEE_ — _" the rest of her scream was swallowed by the ocean as she was dragged under it's surface, disappearing from view. Rayleigh and Roger stared at the deep blue waters for a stunned moment as a few bubbles rose to the top afterwards._

 _They shared a look with each other._

 _Then the bubbles stopped coming and they vaulted over the side of the ship in unison._

 _Now, if you were to ask the Woman, she didn't know exactly what had happened or how it occurred. One moment she had been reviewing possible upcoming ports where she could get off the ship and away from the two idiots she was currently trapped with, and the next something had bumped up against her ass. Instinctively, she had spun around to stick her blunderbuss into Rayleigh's face only to find he was standing all the way over by the wheel._

 _Then something wrapped around her ankle and pulled, causing her to fall over and fire off her one round of ammo as obscenities flew out of her mouth in nearly incoherent shrieks._

 _Everything that happened after that was blurred rush of shock, rushing adrenaline, cold water and painful sensation of smacking her leg with her sword half the time. She kept her eyes tightly shut the entire time after seeing the beaked maw of the Kraken and blindly swung her sword at the limb grasping onto her. At one point after salty water flooded her burning lungs and she lost the strength to defend herself anymore from the lack of oxygen, she actually had a moment of total clarity where she accepted this watery death and readied herself to move onto the next world. She really had._

 _When she opened her eyes for what was supposed to be the last time, it was to the sight of Gol D. Roger's maniacal grin a mere foot away from her face. His straw hat floated in the water beside him, held only by a string around his neck. His hand fisted into her leather duster before he kicked upwards, pulling them through the water before her body collided against the wooden deck of their ship once again._

 _She had not died, she realized as she retched up sea water and the remaining contents of her stomach. The pain she felt in her chest and limbs told her she was still alive as well, as did the chill of fresh air on her wet skin. Out of the corner of her vision she noticed Roger and Rayleigh pulling themselves back aboard the vessel. Both of them were soaked and clothes spotted with blotches of ink, Rayleigh's saber dripped with blueish ooze that she assumed was sea monster viscera._

 _"Annie! Are you sill breathing?" Roger asked earnestly as he ran over to her, slamming a heavy hand into her back to try and aid her. The Woman choked on a gasp as her body radiated with pain, yellow-green eyes shot to him in anger. She coughed a couple times, hacking up more seawater before turning a sneer up at the all-too carefree man towering over her._

 _She had not died this time, no._

 _Yet, she was sure she was still in Hell._

 _"I'm aces, Captain," she deadpanned, voice hoarse. "Fuckin' aces..."_

 _"Great! I thought you'd might be mad!" he laughed, completely oblivious to her sarcastic tone. He clapped her back twice more and stars clouded her vision._

 _"Damn you both and damn this boat!" she spat, nearly whining. She was wet and cold and tired and sore, all she wanted to do was curl up and nap. Preferably not to wake up again, not to these two idiots._

 _Rayleigh sheathed his newly-cleaned saber and turned to her with an indignant look. "Don't talk about my ship like that! Unlike yourself, she's a lady and needs to be treated with respect_ — _"_

 _The Woman snarled, peeling off her wet jacket and throwing it down. "You STOLE this boat, you smarmy bastard! It isn't yours to begin with, so don't you go lecturing me about_ — _"_

 _Roger threw his head back, laughing like a depraved madman by her accounts as they sailed along their course without any particular destination in mind. The Woman and Rayleigh continued bickering until the sun went down and Roger did nothing to stop them. He only grinned at the horizon as the next island, and adventure, came into sight._

* * *

 **The Weasel and His Cat**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **A/N: There we gooo~ Ah! Finally done! I'm so happy with how these chapters turned out. I wanted a notice for the passage of time since Itachi found Tomomi (roughly four years now) so we can get on with his life. Which, as some of you should know, things will be picking up as we get closer to his teen years. The next few chapters in fact are not going to be very happy or funny to read, really. Sorry for that in advance.**

 **But, I just want you all to know that even though this is a tragedy, it doesn't mean this story has to have a tragic ending. I know that it will not be the happy ending people are hoping for, but I aim to make it _satisfying_. I promise. Thank you for reading and your continual support guys! I love writing for you! **

**Okay, I love you, guys! I'll see you next time!**

 _-Nanami_


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